» 


HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  AND  SCHOOL 
LUNCHES 


THE  SURVEY  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION 

Charles  E.  Adams,  Chairman 

Thomas  G.  Fitzsimons 

Myrta  L.  Jones 

Bascom  Little 

Victor  W.  Sincere 


Arthur  D.  Baldwin,  Secretary 

James  R.  Garfield,  Counsel 

Allen  T.  Burns,  Director 


THE  EDUCATION  SURVEY 
Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Director 


CLEVELAND  EDUCATION  SURVEY 

HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  AND 
SCHOOL  LUNCHES 


BT 

ALICE  C.  BOUGHTON 


nOSTO^  COLU^GB  U^^^' 

THE  SURVEY  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 

CLEVELAND  FOUNDATION 

CLEVELAND  •  OHIO 

23  1916 


Copyright,  1916,  by 

the  survey  committee  of  the 
cleveland  foundation 


/ 


1962S9 


WM-  F.  FELL  CO-  PRINTERS 
PHILADELPHLA. 


anSTOM  COOEQB  UBRAfW 
wSnUT  HILU  MASS. 


FOREWORD 

This  report  on  '^Household  Arts  and  School 
Lunches''  is  one  of  the  25  sections  of  the  report 
of  the  Education  Survey  of  Cleveland  conducted 
by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland 
Foundation  in  1915.  Twenty-three  of  these  sec- 
tions will  be  pubUshed  as  separate  monographs. 
In  addition  there  will  be  a  larger  volume  giving  a 
siunmary  of  the  findings  and  recommendations 
relating  to  the  regular  work  of  the  pubUc  schools, 
and  a  second  similar  volume  giving  the  sum- 
mary of  those  sections  relating  to  industrial 
education.  Copies  of  all  these  publications  may 
be  obtained  from  the  Cleveland  Foundation. 
They  may  also  be  obtained  from  the  Division 
of  Education  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation, 
New  York  City.  A  complete  Ust  will  be  found 
in  the  back  of  this  volume,  together  with 
prices. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword  5 

List  of  Tables  10 

List  of  Illustrations  10 

CHAPTER 

I.  Household  Arts  in  Elementary  Schools  11 

Purpose  of  this  report  and  method  used  11 

Growth  in  the  United  States  12 

Growth  in  Cleveland  14 

Present  instruction  15 

Centers  16 

Supervision  18 

The  teaching  body  19 

Teachers'  salaries  22 

Attitude  of  principals  toward  household  arts  23 

Attitude  of  Cleveland  toward  household  arts  24 

Attitude  of  children  25 

Course  of  study  26 

Practical  suggestions  regarding  the  work  30 

Model  housekeeping  apartments  31 

Elementary  industrial  schools  35 

Summary  36 

II.  Relation  of  Household  Arts  to  Elementary 

Education  40 

Homemaking  versus  housekeeping  40 

Education  for  homemaking  43 

Function  of  household  arts  and  its  two  aspects  48 

Selection  of  subject  matter  50 

A  housekeeping  course  in  the  junior  high  school  55 

Summary  58 


CHAFTEB  PAGB 

III.  Infant  Hygiene  61 
Arguments  for  teaching  infant  hygiene  in  elemen- 
tary schools  63 
What  the  elementary  school  is  doing  63 
Infant  hygiene  and  the  work  it  displaces  65 
Adult  responsibihty  and  the  adolescent  girl  66 
Time  when  specialized  training  should  be  given  68 
Hygiene  for  boys  and  girls  alike  68 
Effectiveness  of  baby  saving  institutions  69 
Summary  71 

rV.  Household  Arts  in  Cleveland  High  Schools  74 

Space,  physical  equipment,  and  costs  75 

Course  of  study  in  technical  schools  76 

West  Technical  lunchroom  used  for  vocational 

work  82 

Trade  work  in  foods  and  sanitation  85 

Courses  of  study  in  academic  high  schools  87 

Teaching  body  89 

Present  plan  unsatisfactory  91 

Summary  94 

V.  Relation  of  Household  Arts  to  Secondary 

Education  98 

Education  for  self  support  98 

Education  for  social  relationships  102 

Education  for  individual  personahty  107 

Moral  equivalents  for  home  "110 

Summary  114 

VI.  Elementary  School  Lunch  Service  116 

Elementary  school  lunches  from  two  points  of 

view  118 

Present  situation  in  Cleveland  120 
School  meals  as  supplements  or  substitutes  for 

home  meals  122 

Kinds  of  lunches  and  by  whom  provided  124 

Lunchrooms  and  preparation  of  food  129 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Food  natural  need  of  all  children  131 

School  lunch  or  street  lunch  132 

Food  clinics  135 

Medical  inspection  cooperation  desirable  136 

Lunch  service  a  big  business  136 

Consohdated  lunch  service  138 

Summary  139 

VII.  High  School  Lunch  Service  143 

School  lunches  not  new  in  Cleveland  145 

Two  distinct  poUcies  with  regard  to  school  lunch 

service  146 

Extent  of  service  in  Cleveland  147 

Standards  for  high  school  meals  148 

Lunch  menus  149 

Service  151 

Location  and  equipment  of  lunchrooms  153 

Condition  and  care  155 

Lighting  156 

Ventilation  156 

Working  force  157 

Concessionnaires  158 

Supervision  159 

High  school  lunches  a  big  business  159 

Place  of  lunch  service  in  the  school  system  162 

School  cooperation  164 

Greater  use  of  lunchrooms  possible  165 

Waste  of  present  system  166 

Economy  of  consolidated  lunch  service  167 

Summary  168 


LIST  OF  TABLES 

TABLE  PAGE 

1.  Cost  to  Cleveland  Board  of  Education  for  two  lunches 

a  day  for  open  air  children  127 

2.  Cost  to  Cleveland  Board  of  Education  for  one  hot  dish 

at  noon  for  blind  children  128 

3.  Cost  to  Cleveland  Board  of  Education  for  noon  meal 

for  crippled  children  at  Willson  School  129 

4.  What  children  in  other  cities  spent  at  school  in  1914- 

15  136 

5.  Profit  made  by  lunchroom  concessionnaires  in  Cleve- 

land during  1914-15  158 

6.  Average  receipts  per  student  for  seven  cities  with 

supervised  high  school  service,  1914-15  160 

7.  Amount  and  cost  of  business  done  by  Cleveland  high 

school  lunchrooms  during  1914-15  161 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


A  cooking  center  in  a  basement  16 

One  of  the  several  sewing  centers  in  elementary  schools        18 

New  type  of  equipment  in  use  in  schools  such  as  Eagle 
and  Mound  32 

Open  air  lunch  at  the  Eagle  School  120 

Lunches  for  children, — the  street  kind  versus  the  school 

kind  132 

Basement  lunchroom  at  East  Technical  High  School  144 

Household  arts  students  at  West  Technical  High  School 

prepare  and  serve  noon  lunch  154 

The  school  lunchrooms  must  compete  with  the  bakers' 

wagons  throughout  the  city  158 

The  new  Allegheny  High  School  lunchroom  in  Pittsburgh  164 

Scott  High  School  lunchroom  in  Toledo  166 

In  Allegheny  High  School  in  Pittsburgh  400  pupils  are 

served  in  about  six  minutes  168 


HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  AND  SCHOOL 
LUNCHES 

CHAPTER  I 

HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  IN  ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOLS 

This  is  the  first  separate  report  on  household  arts 
made  by  any  school  survey.  In  other  surveys  the 
subject  has  been  reported  in  connection  with  the  cur- 
riculum as  a  whole.  For  Cleveland,  however,  there 
are  several  reasons  why  an  extensive  study  is  both 
fitting  and  timely. 


Purpose  of  This  Report  and  Method  Used 

Cleveland  was  one  of  the  first  cities  in  the  country 
to  introduce  household  arts  in  its  elementary  schools, 
and  at  the  present  time  all  girls  who  finish  the  gram- 
mar school  have  such  instruction  during  their  last 
four  years  there.  Rapid  development  in  Cleveland 
has  been  closely  paralleled  by  an  increasing  interest 
in  household  arts  teaching  throughout  the  country. 
This  interest  has  been  particularly  noticeable  in  the 
past  five  years  because  of  a  growing  tendency  to  con- 

11 


sider  household  arts  for  girls  the  equivalent  of  voca- 
tional education  for  boys. 

Cleveland's  long  experience  should  make  possible 
a  study  of  the  aims,  methods,  and  results  of  the  sub- 
ject and  a  consideration  of  how  far  it  has  a  distinctive 
contribution  to  make  to  elementary  education,  how 
flexible  it  is,  and  what  are  its  tendencies  and  future 
possibilities.  The  purpose  of  this  study  is  not  to 
compare  Cleveland  with  other  cities,  nor  one  Cleve- 
land school  with  another,  but  to  picture  the  present 
situation  and  to  describe  work  done;  to  seek  out  mo- 
tives, and  weigh  purposes,  methods,  and  results;  to 
meet  present  and  future  needs  by  getting  at  existing 
situations  and  forecasting  future  developments. 

The  first  section  of  this  report  consists  of  the  first 
two  chapters.  The  first  pictures  household  arts  in 
Cleveland  elementary  schools  and  how  people  there 
consider  it.  The  second  deals  with  the  purpose  and 
function  of  household  arts  as  it  relates  to  the  ele- 
mentary school.  It  outUnes  the  scope  of  household 
arts  and  endeavors  to  select  from  the  mass  of  material 
that  which  will  further  the  fundamental  purpose  of 
the  elementary  school,  to  enable  children  to  partici- 
pate in  a  great  society. 


Growth  in  the  United  States 

The  first  impetus  to  household  arts  training  was 
given  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  other  eastern  cities 
where  cooking  classes  for  ladies  were  organized  in  the 
early  eighties.     In  the  same  decade  philanthropic 

12 


classes  in  cooking  and  sewing  were  started  in  several 
cities  which  were  merged  into  the  first  manual  train- 
ing classes  in  cooking  and  sewing  in  both  elementary 
and  high  schools.  In  the  past  10  years  this  idea  of 
manual  training  has  given  way  to  that  of  vocational 
training,  and  courses  in  household  arts,  which  em- 
phasize the  vocational  nature  of  this  work,  are  in- 
creasing in  number. 

By  1875  the  struggle  for  the  higher  education  of 
women  had  been  largely  won,  and  trained  women 
everywhere  were  beginning  to  realize  the  economic 
value  of  women's  work  in  the  household.  Very 
naturally  they  wished  to  emphasize  its  dignity  and 
importance  to  both  home  and  society.  They  saw 
that  one  way  to  accompUsh  their  purpose  was  to  get 
academic  recognition  and  professional  standing  for 
women's  work,  and  during  the  early  years  of  the 
movement  their  activities  were  mainly  directed  to- 
ward this  end. 

In  the  United  States  the  leaders  were,  among 
others,  Maria  Parloa,  Ellen  H.  Richards,  Mary  H. 
Abel,  and  Dr.  H.  O.  Atwater.  Their  earnest  efforts 
gradually  brought  about  a  growing  interest  in  house- 
hold economics  throughout  the  country.  Training 
schools  for  teachers  of  household  arts  and  science 
began  to  be  opened.  In  1890  three  normal  schools 
were  giving  courses;  in  1900,  12  were  doing  so,  and 
by  1914  practically  every  state  normal  school  in  the 
country  had  such  a  department.  Now  colleges  are  be- 
ginning to  give  academic  recognition  to  this  branch. 
Finally,  in  1909,  the  American  Home  Economics 

13 


Association  was  formed  with  the  purpose,  as  given 
in  the  constitution,  ''of  bringing  together  those  in- 
terested in  the  bettering  of  conditions  in  the  home, 
the  school,  the  public  institution,  and  the  com- 
munity/' 

Growth  in  Cleveland 

Household  arts  in  Cleveland  had  a  humble  beginning. 
In  1884,  through  private  initiative,  a  kitchen  garden 
was  opened  in  the  basement  of  Unity  Church,  and 
cooking  was  taught  to  a  small  class  of  girls  from  the 
neighborhood.  This  first  class  was  so  successful  that 
in  1886  the  Cleveland  Domestic  Training  Associa- 
tion was  formed.  It  opened  rooms  at  79  Superior 
Street  and  the  Board  of  Education  gave  permission 
for  three  classes  of  children  from  Rockwell  School, 
located  just  around  the  corner,  to  go  there  for  cook- 
ing lessons.  The  following  year,  1887,  the  cooking 
department  of  the  Cleveland  Domestic  Training  As- 
sociation became  a  regular  branch  of  the  Cleveland 
Manual  Training  School,  which  had  been  opened  in 
January  of  that  same  year.  The  school  was  started 
and  largely  supported  by  private  initiative.  It  re- 
ceived state  aid,  in  return  for  which  free  instruction 
was  given  to  high  school  students. 

In  1893  the  first  grade  centers  in  cooking  were 
organized  at  Hicks  and  Outhwaite  schools  and  new 
centers  were  opened  year  by  year  until  at  the  present 
time  there  are  20  regular  and  seven  special  centers 
which  accommodate  the  school  population. 


14 


Present  Instruction 
Girls  who  stay  in  school  until  they  have  finished  the 
eighth  grade  receive  four  years'  instruction  in  house- 
hold arts.  They  have  sewing  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
grades  and  cooking  and  housewifery,  including  laun- 
dry work,  in  the  seventh  and  eighth.  With  few  ex- 
ceptions sev/ing  is  taught  in  the  classroom  by  the 
grade  teacher  while  the  boys  are  having  their  weekly 
manual  training  lesson,  but  for  cooking  the  majority 
of  girls  go  to  nearby  domestic  science  centers. 

There  are  20  such  centers  in  Cleveland,  each 
one  of  which  is  in  charge  of  a  trained  teacher  of 
household  science.  They  are  equipped  to  accommo- 
date not  more  than  24  to  26  children  at  a  time,  and 
handle  on  an  average  three  classes  a  day.  Girls  have 
one  90  minute  lesson  a  week,  so  that  a  center  cares 
for  15  classes  and  approximately  300  children  a  week. 
Last  year,  (1914-15),  6,200  girls  from  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  attended  these  centers,  while  8,200 
others  from  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades  had  sewing. 
The  great  majority  of  these  were  taught  sewing  in 
their  own  classrooms  by  regular  grade  teachers. 

At  eight  schools,  including  the  two  industrial 
schools, — Mound  and  Brownell, — the  classes  were 
taught  by  visiting  teachers  of  household  arts.  In 
addition  to  the  20  cooking  centers  described,  there 
are  seven  others:  two  in  the  industrial  schools  pro- 
viding for  156  children,  two  training  classes  for 
morons  at  Meyer  and  the  Council  AlUance  Settle- 
ment where  76  are  cared  for,  work  for  backward  chil- 
dren at  Longwood,  and  two  model  apartments  at 

15 


Marion  and  Eagle  schools  handling  together  223 
more.  Girls  who  attend  these  schools  spend  more 
time  on  household  arts  than  do  those  who  go  to 
regular  centers. 

Centers 

Besides  the  20  centers  equipped  for  the  regular 
classes  in  cooking  and  housekeeping,  there  are  seven 
more  planned  especially  to  meet  the  needs  of  particu- 
lar groups  of  children.  Centers  are  scattered  widely 
over  the  city,  and  each  one  accommodates  children 
from  its  own  and  nearby  schools. 

In  more  than  half  of  the  schools  household  science 
centers  are  in  the  main  school  building;  in  the  rest 
they  share  a  small  out-building  with  manual  training 
classes.  When  these  centers  were  opened,  the  method 
of  bookkeeping  was  such  that  initial  cost  of  equip- 
ment was  not  recorded.  The  estimated  cost,  how- 
ever, is  $1,200  for  kitchen  equipment  for  each  center, 
and  $22  per  year  for  renewed  equipment,  necessary 
repairs,  and  painting.  With  almost  no  exception  the 
rooms  are  strikingly  cheerful  and  well  kept,  and  this 
is  all  the  more  impressive  since  a  number  are  in  base- 
ments partly  below  the  street  level. 

Schools  as  a  whole  are  well  cared  for,  quiet,  and 
attractive;  the  paint  is  fresh  and  the  floors  are  clean. 
Household  science  rooms  are  Ught  and  airy;  all  of 
them  have  windows  on  two  sides  and  a  number  have 
them  on  three.  The  visitor  entering  the  room  is 
immediately  impressed  with  the  constant  care  and 
thought  put  into  keeping  centers  in  such  excellent 
shape. 

16 


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The  first  of  these  centers  was  opened  in  1893,  the 
last  in  1915,  which  results  in  a  wide  variety  in  fixed 
equipment  and  arrangement  of  rooms,  but  in  spite  of 
this  teachers  find  little  fault.  A  few  prefer  the  old 
'^ hollow  square''  arrangement  of  desks  to  the  new 
way,  where  groups  of  six  work  at  a  table  desk,  and 
do  their  cooking  at  family  size  gas  ranges  placed  in 
the  middle  of  the  room.  The  teachers'  main  objec- 
tion to  this  plan  seems  to  be  that  it  makes  more 
difficult  the  handling  of  small  children,  or  those  who 
do  not  speak  English  well.  Cleveland  has  apparently 
not  yet  been  stirred  by  the  controversy  now  raging 
throughout  the  country  as  to  which  is  better  for 
teaching  purposes,  this  older  kitchen  laboratory  such 
as  Cleveland  uses  most  generally,  or  the  newer 
model  apartment  such  as  those  at  Marion,  Eagle,  and 
Murray  Hill.  Advocates  of  the  two  methods  advance 
strong  arguments  in  favor  of  their  respective  posi- 
tions, and  when  groups  of  household  arts  teachers 
assemble  in  conference  there  is  apt  to  be  lively  dis- 
cussion regarding  the  merits  of  the  two  plans.  So  far 
neither  side  has  succeeded  in  converting  the  other, 
but  in  their  attempts  to  do  so  they  are  producing,  in 
the  professional  journals,  an  interesting  literature  on 
the  subject  that  gives  in  detail  the  strong  points  of 
both  methods. 

In  the  Mound  and  Brownell  schools,  and  in  several 

of  the  new  schools,  rooms  are  arranged  for  household 

arts.     Equipment  is  simple,  and  consists  of  tables 

with  locker  drawers,  sewing  machines,  and  locker  and 

display  cases  around  the  walls.    Girls  in  these  schools 
2  17 


have  a  special  course  of  study  and  spend  more  time 
on  sewing  than  do  the  other  children  who  have  their 
sewing  lessons  in  the  regular  classrooms. 


Supervision 
The  supervisor  of  household  science  and  arts  is  an 
educational  officer  and  is  directly  responsible  to  the 
superintendent  of  schools.  She  is  appointed  by 
the  Board  of  Education  on  recommendation  of  the 
superintendent  and  this  appointment  is  renewed 
each  year.  She  prepares  the  course  of  study  for  both 
science  and  arts,  holds  teachers'  meetings,  and  super- 
vises, through  visits  and  individual  classroom  con- 
ferences, the  work  of  special  teachers  in  these  sub- 
jects and  the  regular  teachers  in  sewing.  The  super- 
visor in  conference  with  and  subject  to  the  office  of 
the  director  of  schools  selects  equipment  and  plans 
the  arrangement  of  household  science  and  arts  rooms 
in  new  centers  and  arranges  for  upkeep  of  rooms  and 
equipment  in  older  centers. 

Household  arts  extends  through  four  years  of  the 
elementary  school.  This  past  year  8,200  girls  had 
sewing  with  their  regular  teachers,  and  6,200  others 
attended  the  household  science  centers.  Of  these, 
2,500  had  a  course  in  infant  hygiene  given  jointly  by 
the  teachers  and  the  school  nurses.  To  handle  the 
clerical  work  of  the  office,  the  supervisor  has  half  the 
time  of  one  clerk.  This  is  inadequate,  and  the  super- 
visor is,  therefore,  forced  to  spend  a  large  amount  of 
her  time  keeping  up  with  routine  clerical  work  to 

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the  neglect  of  her  heavy  supervisory  duties.  At 
stated  intervals  she  meets  special  teachers  in  con- 
ference, but  grade  teachers,  for  whose  work  in  sewing 
she  is  likewise  responsible,  she  sees  only  in  hurried 
visits  to  their  classrooms,  in  each  of  which  she  spends 
from  10  to  20  minutes  each  semester.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  there  is  danger  that,  as  the  depart- 
ment grows,  she  will  cease  to  be  a  supervisor  and  be- 
come merely  an  inspector.  Such  a  situation  denotes 
an  organic  weakness.  An  adequate  clerical  force  and 
the  appointment  of  an  assistant  supervisor  of  work 
in  clothing  and  textiles  would  go  far  to  remedy  the 
present  condition  which,  if  it  continues,  will  in  time 
sap  the  life  and  vitality  of  this  department. 


The  Teaching  Body 

The  household  arts  corps  consists  of  a  supervisor 
and  31  teachers, — 27  teaching  cooking,  the  remaining 
four,  sewing.  These  women  make  a  distinctly  favor- 
able showing  in  comparison  with  teachers  of  manual 
training  and  those  in  the  regular  grades.  They  are 
young  and  attractive;  the  majority  are  well  under 
30,  and  all  have  had  special  training  for  their  work. 
Indeed,  this  small  group  is  rich  in  the  variety  of  its 
preparation  and  points  of  view,  for  it  represents  15 
different  training  schools  for  household  arts  teaching, 
and  half  of  these  institutions,  such  as  Teachers  Col- 
lege and  Simmons  College,  are  of  college  rank. 
Twenty-three  of  the  girls  have  had  work  at  those  or 
similar  institutions,  the  rest  are  graduates  of  normal 

19 


schools.    In  addition  to  their  specialized  work,  14 
have  had  experience  as  grade  teachers. 

The  very  happy  relationship  between  teachers  and 
children  which  exists  throughout  the  whole  system 
is  at  once  apparent  on  entering  these  classrooms. 
Teachers  say  they  have  to  struggle  to  get  the  girls 
to  be  orderly  with  their  work  or  particular  in  their 
dishwashing  or  prompt  at  class;  never  that  they  have 
difficulty  in  managing  them.  Principals  are  unani- 
mous in  their  praise  of  the  way  in  which  household 
arts  teachers  deal  with  the  many  problems  involved 
in  handling  300  young  girls.  There  is,  too,  a  very  real 
loyalty  to  the  department,  and  all  unite  in  an  effort 
to  carry  out  the  program  as  given  them. 

The  teachers  are  conscientious,  and  painstaking 
and  want  to  teach  the  course  as  planned.  Herein  lies 
their  greatest  weakness.  They  are  mainly  concerned 
with  methods  involved  in  their  teaching,  but  seldom, 
if  ever,  question  reasons  for  teaching  the  particular 
material  selected.  This  trait,  however,  is  not  pe- 
culiar to  household  arts  teachers,  but  permeates  the 
whole  teaching  profession,  and  is  one  of  the  chief 
difficulties  against  which  supervisors  have  to  contend. 

The  majority  of  household  arts  teachers  with 
whom  the  writer  has  come  in  contact, — and  this 
appUes  not  only  to  Cleveland, — seem  to  have  little 
perspective  with  regard  to  their  subject.  If  ever  they 
do  stop  to  question,  they  concern  themselves  with 
the  hows  rather  than  with  the  whats  or  whys  of  their 
work.  For  a  subject  like  household  arts,  which  draws 
its  material  from  a  broad  field  to  meet  the  varied 

20 


needs  of  widely  different  groups,  such  an  attitude  on 
the  part  of  its  teachers  is  a  serious  handicap.  Every 
individual  teacher  should  be  keenly  aware  of  the 
many  problems  involved  in  a  wise  selection  and  pre- 
sentation of  subject  matter,  and,  if  she  is  to  do  in- 
telligent as  well  as  earnest  work  in  her  field,  she  must 
realize  the  situation  as  one  to  be  faced  by  her  as  well 
as  by  her  supervisor.  Every  teacher  should  have  a 
distinct  end  in  mind  toward  the  fulfillment  of  which 
she  is  bending  all  effort,  and  a  clear  idea  of  tools  and 
materials  required  to  bring  her  plans  to  fruition. 
Instead  of  this  there  is  blankness  and  misunder- 
standing when  questions  as  to  the  general  function 
and  purpose  of  household  arts  are  raised.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  case  in  point. 

The  lesson  was  on  peanut  cookies.  The  teacher 
was  on  the  alert  for  any  suggestions  which  would 
enable  her  to  get  those  cookies  into  the  oven  five 
minutes  sooner  than  usual.  Conversation  passed  on 
to  the  question  of  why  peanut  cookies  were  being 
taught  at  this  particular  time.  The  answer  came 
readily  enough:  ^'Peanut  cookies  occur  in  lesson  26 
in  the  regular  course.''  ^^Well,  then,''  said  the  per- 
severing visitor,  '^why  are  they  in  the  course?  Do 
they  help  illustrate  some  particular  point  you  want 
to  bring  out?  Are  they  especially  easy,  or  are  they 
valuable  in  themselves  as  being  something  which 
every  girl  should  know  how  to  make?  Why  do  you 
think  they  were  chosen  rather  than  sugar  cookies? 
But  perhaps  you  have  a  hst  from  which  to  choose 
what  seems  to  you  most  suitable  for  the  particular 

21 


class  you  are  teaching?"  For  a  moment  the  teacher 
looked  bewildered,  then  she  brightened  up  and  said, 
''You  know  we  don't  make  the  course,  that  is  done 
by  the  supervisor,  we  just  teach  it.'' 

To  the  writer  it  seems  as  if  more  time  should  be 
spent  by  teachers  of  household  arts  in  trying  to  find 
out  specifically  what  their  subject  has  to  contribute 
to  the  girl's  education,  what  its  aims  are,  and  in  how 
far  results  obtained  check  up  with  the  ends  desired. 
Individual  conferences  between  supervisor  and 
teachers,  together  with  departmental  and  committee 
work  carrying  responsibiUty,  might  go  a  long  way  to- 
wards arousing  and  fixing  in  the  minds  of  teachers  a 
critical  attitude  toward  their  work,  but  for  teachers 
to  go  far  in  this  constructive  criticism  requires  a 
broader  outlook  and  a  more  intensive  social  and 
economic  preparation  than  the  majority  of  them  have 
had.  Their  training  emphasized  technique  along  the 
Unes  of  natural  science.  This  other  viewpoint  would 
place  an  equal  if  not  a  greater  emphasis  on  social 
science.  Such  supplementary  courses  Cleveland 
teachers  cannot  get  on  the  salaries  they  are  now  re- 
ceiving. 

Teachers'  Salaries 
The  schools  have  done  well  in  getting  picked  teachers 
at  bargain  prices  who,  as  a  body,  are  as  well  prepared 
as  any  such  group  of  equal  size  elsewhere.  Teachers 
of  household  arts  are  regular  teachers  and  are  eligible 
for  pensions  on  the  same  basis  as  other  teachers. 
They  have  had,  as  a  rule,  a  longer  preparation  for 

22 


their  work  than  the  average  teacher  of  manual  train- 
ing. They  begin  with  $500  a  year  and  in  10  years 
reach  their  maximum,  $1,000,  while  the  manual 
training  teachers  start  with  $900,  and  after  six  years 
get  $1,500.  Neither  this  initial  $500  nor  any  amount 
between  $500  and  $750,  which  is  what  20  out  of 
these  31  teachers  receive,  is  sufficient  to  allow  them 
to  support  themselves  and  at  the  same  time  supple- 
ment their  present  training  by  extension  courses  or 
summer  work.  It  is  too  low  to  hold  permanently  ex- 
perienced teachers,  or  very  able  ones.  Moreover, 
household  arts  is  a  new  and  rapidly  developing  field. 
No  teacher  can  expect  to  do  good  work  without  keep- 
ing in  touch  with  its  newer  phases  by  attending  con- 
ferences, at  least  once  in  two  years,  taking  summer 
school  work,  or  being  a  member  of  various  educa- 
tional and  scientific  associations  and  subscribing  to 
their  periodicals.  The  teacher  of  househola  arts  in 
Cleveland  elementary  schools  can  barely  live  on  her 
salary;  she  has  little  margin  for  saving  and  none  at 
all  for  development. 

Attitude  of  Principals  Toward  Household  Arts 
Principals  are  uniformly  interested  in  the  subjects  of 
clothing,  textiles,  and  foods  and  sanitation.  They 
favor  the  work  and  with  few  exceptions  approve  of 
the  two  years'  course  in  both  household  arts  and 
science.  Some  go  even  further  and  think  this  teach- 
ing should  start  sooner, — in  the  third  or  fourth  year, 
— or  have  more  time  given  to  it  in  the  upper  grades. 
They  favor  it  because  they  consider  that  it  teaches 

23 


girls  to  be  neat  and  clean  of  person  and  about  the 
house,  and  that  it  gives  them  an  interest  in  house- 
hold affairs,  control  over  details  of  household  man- 
agement, and  some  standards  for  judging  the  quaUty 
and  importance  of  such  work. 

Principals  of  schools  with  foreign  populations  say 
that  through  cooking  and  sewing  the  girls  become  ac- 
quainted with  certain  American  ways  and  standards 
which  reach  their  homes  in  no  other  way.  Several  of 
these  principals  said  that  it  was  a  great  help  in  keep- 
ing up  attendance  of  girls  near  the  legal  age  for  work, 
and  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  they  would  favor 
it,  at  least  in  the  foreign  and  industrial  districts. 

They  felt,  however,  that  since  the  subject  was 
largely  a  technical  one,  their  criticism  was  only  of 
general  interest.  With  few  exceptions  they  were 
genuinely  startled  when  asked  if  they  considered  that 
the  reasons  they  had  given  for  favoring  the  subject 
were  sufficient  to  warrant  its  place  in  the  crowded 
curriculum  of  the  elementary  school,  or  in  how  far 
they  had  been  able  to  judge  the  results  obtained  by 
this  teaching  as  compared  with  those  of  other  special 
subjects.  The  principals  grew  much  interested  in  this 
point  of  view;  said  they  had  never  had  occasion  to 
consider  the  matter  before,  and  thought  that  an  at- 
tempt to  do  so  would  be  well  worth  the  effort. 

Attitude  of  Cleveland  Toward  Household 

Arts 

In  general  parents,  club  women,  and  social  agencies 
are  interested  and  favorable  in  their  attitude  toward 

24 


household  arts  teaching.  Many  parents  are  im- 
mensely ^^practicar'  about  it.  They  say  that  it 
teaches  girls  to  be  more  useful  at  home.  In  foreign 
districts  the  parents  will  sometimes  let  girls  stay  in 
school  longer  if  they  are  getting  something  useful. 
Their  feeling  is  that  since  the  girls  are  destined  to 
marry,  it  is  better  for  them  to  be  at  home  with  their 
mothers  or  elsewhere  at  work  than  learning  merely 
book  knowledge  at  school. 

Unless  the  school  gives  something  which  helps  the 
girl  matrimonially,  many  parents  concern  themselves 
little,  if  any,  about  the  girFs  education.  They  are  not 
troubled  as  to  whether  she  likes  the  work  or  gets  any- 
thing of  value  for  herself  from  it. 


Attitude  of  Children 
Cooking  is  generally  popular  with  girls.  Sewing  they 
do  not  like  so  well  for  it  offers  less  variety  and  delayed 
returns.  In  cooking  at  least  one  or  two  new  dishes 
are  prepared  each  lesson,  but  it  takes  many  lessons  to 
make  an  apron  or  an  undergarment.  Then,  too,  the 
sewing  is  generally  taught  in  the  regular  classrooms, 
and  for  cooking  the  children  leave  the  room  and  fre- 
quently the  building.  So  the  cooking  lesson  is  some- 
thing to  look  forward  to.  The  rooms  are  different  and 
attractive,  the  lesson,  by  its  very  nature,  is  much  less 
formal  than  the  routine  work,  and  it  is  part  of  the 
game  to  eat  the  product  of  one's  own  hands. 

Certain  immediate  results  of  this  teaching  are 
noticeable.  The  children  learn  to  do  easy  household 

25 


tasks,  cook  plain  food,  set  the  table  and  serve  a  meal, 
mend  their  clothes  and  make  simple  garments,  but 
do  not  become  adept  at  doing  any  one  of  them. 
They  are  encouraged  to  try  at  home  the  things  they 
have  learned  to  do  at  school,  but  there  is  no  uni- 
formity about  this  home  practice.  Teachers  empha- 
size it  or  not,  according  to  how  important  they  think 
it  is,  and  how  much  opportunity  for  such  practice 
neighborhood  homes  offer. 

The  claim  is  not  infrequently  made  that  household 
arts  has  a  marked  effect  on  the  girFs  later  Ufe  in  that 
it  teaches  her  to  give  thought  to  the  care  of  her  future 
home.  Household  arts  should  give  the  girl  standards 
and  does  give  her  a  certain  technique  in  the  handling 
of  household  problems,  but  that  she  carries  over 
what  she  has  learned  from  the  grammar  school  to 
her  own  home,  estabUshed  perhaps  10  years  later,  is 
seriously  open  to  question.  Household  arts  is  a  com- 
paratively new  subject.  Its  distinctive  purpose  has 
yet  to  be  clearly  defined  and  its  usefulness  measured. 


Course  of  Study 

The  course  of  study  for  both  household  science  and 
arts  was  being  re-shaped  when  the  Survey  was  in 
progress,  and  with  the  opening  of  school  in  Sep- 
tember, 1915,  a  new  course  went  into  effect. 

The  old  course  in  household  science  has  already 
been  abandoned,  so  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to 
criticize  it.  The  new  one  is  only  tentative  and  will 
be  all  year  in  the  making.  Any  discussion  of  it,  there- 

26 


fore,  will  have  to  be  general  and  apply  to  point  of 
view  rather  than  to  choice  or  handling  of  subject 
matter. 

In  the  past  the  approved  method  of  making  a 
course  of  study  was  to  take  from  a  well-stocked  mind 
a  neat  collection  of  facts  which  could  be  arranged  in 
orderly  and  logical  sequence  and  so  given  to  the  child, 
such  as  the  following: 

Lesson  I 

A.  Kitchen  equipment 

Acquaint  class  with  its  use,  place,  and  ar- 
rangement 

B.  Measurements 

Use  of  salt  and  water 

C.  Dishwashing 

Wash  clean  dishes  from  the  closet 

D.  Uniforms 

Kind  and  care 

Lesson  II 

Five  food  principles 

a.  Names 

b.  Where  they  occur 

c.  Use  in  body 

Beverages — coffee,  tea,  and  lemonade 


Lesson  III 

Starch 

a. 

Use 

in  body 

b. 

Prepare 

1. 

Plain  toast 

2. 

Buttered  toast 

3. 

Water  toast 

4. 

Milk  toast 

5. 

Creamed  toast 

27 

In  such  a  fashion  the  old  course  went  on  its  deadly 
way,  for  in  their  desire  to  be  logical  the  makers  over- 
looked the  psychological.  Apparently  they  forgot 
that  the  way  they  themselves  learned  to  measure, 
cook,  and  wash  dishes  was  by  measuring,  cooking, 
and  washing  dishes  when  there  was  a  real  reason  for 
doing  so,  and  some  sort  of  a  penalty  involved  in  not 
doing  the  task  well. 

The  new  course  of  study  for  Cleveland  is  very 
different  from  this  older  type.  Its  aim  is  frankly 
practical.  Its  emphasis  is  on  teaching  the  girls  how 
to  buy  and  cook  those  staple  foods  which  are  the 
basis  of  the  average  American  dietary.  Meat  is  the 
first  food  studied,  because  it  is  far  more  important 
for  a  girl  to  know  how  to  buy  and  handle  meat  than 
how  to  make  tea  and  toast. 

When  the  class  has  learned  how  to  handle  simple 
foods  and  combine  them  in  plain  wholesome  meals, 
and  not  until  then,  does  theory  begin  to  have  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  lessons.  Children  probably  get  as 
much  theory  as  they  got  in  the  other  course,  but  now 
it  is  introduced  when  they  have  some  means  for 
checking  it  up  with  the  practices  they  know  will 
work.  There  seems  little  room  for  doubt  that  this 
plan  will  be  not  only  more  interesting  to  the  class, 
but  more  valuable  as  well.  This  new  course  of 
study  involves  the  same  outlay  for  materials  as  did 
the  former  one, — an  average  of  two  cents  per  child 
per  lesson. 

A  discussion  of  household  arts  and  its  relation  to 
the  garment  trades  is  covered  in  other  parts  of  the 

28 


Survey,*  and  so  only  a  brief  account  of  this  work  is 
given  here.  The  household  arts  course  is  in  even  a 
more  fluid  condition  than  that  in  cooking.  There  are 
only  four  special  teachers  for  this  subject,  and  they 
divide  their  time  among  Brownell,  Eagle,  Fowler, 
Fullerton,  Kennard,  Mound,  Warren,  and  Willson 
Cripple  schools.  Children  at  all  other  schools  are 
taught  by  the  grade  teachers. 

In  its  present  form  the  course  which  special 
teachers  use  is  planned  so  as  to  include  a  certain 
amount  of  textile  work  as  well  as  practice  in  handling 
materials.  Children  do  various  kinds  of  mending, 
make  uniforms  for  use  in  cooking  classes,  and  other 
simple  machine  and  handmade  garments,  as  well  as 
fancy  articles, — embroidered,  knitted,  or  crocheted. 
Teachers  stress  the  value  and  attractiveness  of  per- 
sonal neatness  and  endeavor  to  train  girls  to  keep 
their  clothes  in  good  repair  by  encouraging  them  to 
bring  mending  of  any  sort  to  class. 

A  simple  course  is  planned  for  the  grade  teachers. 
They  give  almost  no  textile  theory,  nor  machine  or 
elaborate  hand  work,  but  confine  themselves  to 
mending,  plain  sewing,  and  buttonhole-making,  and 
making  very  simple  garments,  such  as  aprons  and 
caps  for  household  science. 

So  much  for  the  subject  matter  of  both  kinds. 
There  is  still  the  whole  question  of  emphasis.  Where 
shall  the  emphasis  be  put, — on  production  or  use? 
Shall  all  the  girls  be  perfected  in  skilled  ability  to  cook, 


*  "The  Garment  Trades"  and  "Dressmaking  and  Milli- 
nery" by  Edna  Bryner. 

29 


sew,  and  sweep,  or  be  given  standards  concerning 
cooking,  sewing,  sweeping,  and  the  other  technique 
of  housekeeping?  Which  is  more  vital  for  them,  to 
know  how  to  make  a  good  loaf  of  bread,  or  how  to 
recognize  good  bread  when  they  see  it?  The  view- 
point of  the  present  report  is  that  general  intelligent 
understanding  is  more  important  than  detailed  skill 
in  accomplishment.  The  object  of  the  work  is  to 
have  the  girls  learn  to  know  by  doing. 


Practical  Suggestions  Regarding  the  Work 

Children  are  expected  to  wear  a  plain  white  apron 
with  a  bib,  and  an  attractive  little  white  cap  in  cook- 
ing class.  They  make  them  in  the  sixth  grade  as  part 
of  their  household  arts  work  so  that  every  child  who 
has  had  sewing  is  provided  with  her  uniform  when 
she  starts  household  science.  In  all  but  a  few  of  the 
classes  visited,  however,  a  number  of  children  were 
without  aprons  and  more  without  caps.  This  gave 
an  untidy  look  to  an  otherwise  very  orderly  and  in- 
terested group.  It  is  not  easy  to  get  children  to 
remember  their  uniforms  and  keep  them  clean,  but 
it  can  be  done  if  teachers  are  sufl&ciently  insistent 
about  the  matter. 

These  uniforms  are  attractive,  but  they  are  im- 
practical. Colored  aprons  are  much  better  than 
white  ones  for  most  kinds  of  household  work.  A 
simpler  apron,  in  one  piece,  would  be  both  easier  to 
make  and  to  launder,  and  just  as  effective  as  the  one 
now  used.    As  for  the  caps,  they  are  attractive,  but 

30 


they  serve  no  other  purpose.  If  uniforms  are  for  the 
purpose  of  making  household  science  attractive  to 
children  through  an  appeal  to  their  instinct  to  dress 
up,  those  used  do  excellently,  but  if  they  are  strictly 
practical  in  character,  their  useful  characteristics 
should  not  be  sacrificed  to  their  esthetic  qualities. 

Far  more  important  than  uniforms  is  the  question 
of  notebooks.  Every  child  has  a  notebook  in  which 
she  writes  recipes,  dictated  directions,  and  spon- 
taneous notes.  Besides  being  inaccurate,  this  is  an 
extravagant  way  in  which  to  spend  10  or  15  per  cent 
of  the  90  minutes  per  week  given  up  to  household 
arts.  Printed  lesson  leaves  distributed  each  week  and 
fitted  into  an  adjustable  notebook  are  cheap,  accu- 
rate, and  in  permanent  form.  They  do  not  take  the 
place  of  careful  directions  from  the  teacher,  nor  need 
they  be  ironclad  as  to  order  or  usage.  They  serve, 
however,  as  a  basis  of  departure  for  the  teacher,  and 
save  her  time  and  that  of  the  class.  For  many  years 
cities  like  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Buffalo  have 
followed  such  a  plan,  and  have  found  it  highly  satis- 
factory. It  need  not  be  costly,  for  technical  school 
students,  as  in  Philadelphia,  can  do  the  printing. 
Teachers  admit  that  they  could  use  those  10  to  15 
additional  minutes  to  great  advantage  in  review  or 
other  work. 


Model  Housekeeping  Apartments 
The  two  model  housekeeping   apartments  are   of 
special  interest,  for  by  their  different  arrangement 

31 


they  mark  off  two  distinct  viewpoints  which  are 
causing  a  deal  of  heated  discussion  among  edu- 
cators. 

The  first  of  these  apartments  was  opened  at 
Marion  School  in  a  Russian  Jewish  district.  The 
second  floor  of  a  two-story  building  across  the  way 
was  turned  into  a  model  apartment.  Walls  were 
tinted,  woodwork  painted,  floors  and  plumbing  put 
in  order,  and  the  place  equipped  with  furniture  well 
within  the  means  of  neighborhood  families. 

The  plan  for  Eagle  School  and  the  new  Murray 
Hill  annex  represents  an  entirely  different  viewpoint 
from  Marion.  These  schools  are  also  in  congested 
districts,  this  time  Italian,  but  pains  have  been 
taken  to  make  these  apartments,  which  are  in  the 
main  buildings,  as  convenient  in  arrangement  and 
fitting  as  are  such  suites  in  new  and  well-built 
apartment  houses. 

In  each  case  there  is  a  definite  reason  for  the  plan 
followed.  The  group  advocating  the  neighborhood 
apartment  do  so  because  they  think  that  girls  should 
be  taught  to  make  the  best  of  conditions  as  they  are, 
and  that  if  they  are  given  an  elaborate  equipment 
they  will  become  discouraged  and  dissatisfied  with 
the  home  situation  and  derive  no  benefit  from  the 
course. 

The  other  group  take  the  opposite  stand.  They 
want  girls  to  become  intelligently  dissatisfied  with 
poor  home  conditions.  They  believe  that  such  dis- 
content is  a  neighborhood  leaven  which  makes  for 
progress,  and  that  the  '^slums''  will  never  be  done 

32 


o 


CD 
'bi) 

a 

02 


o 

o 

o 

03 


0) 


away  with  until  the  people  who  now  live  there  refuse 
to  do  so  longer. 

The  two  groups  are  not  so  antagonistic  as  at  first 
they  seem.  Both  have  a  point  to  make  and  so  far  as 
they  go  both  are  right,  but  they  stop  short;  they  do 
not  dig  deep  enough  under  method  to  uncover  the 
real  root  of  the  matter,  the  end  in  view.  The  point 
and  purpose  of  household  arts  does  not  lie  in  this  or 
that  way  of  doing  things,  but  in  enabling  girls  to  gain 
control  over  the  details  of  daily  living.  They  should 
be  rendered  capable  of  making  intelligent  choice 
between  different  kinds  of  action. 

A  man  needs  to  have  his  shoes  shined.  There  are 
two  ways  open:  one  to  shine  his  own  shoes,  the  other 
to  pay  the  Italian  on  the  street  corner  to  do  it  for 
him.  Again,  the  housewife's  standards  call  for  fre- 
quent changes  of  linen.  There  are  just  two  ways  for 
her  to  have  it,  either  she  can  do  her  own  washing,  or 
pay  some  one  to  do  it  for  her.  In  both  cases  the  end 
to  be  obtained, — clean  shoes,  clean  clothes, — is  where 
the  emphasis  belongs.  For  the  person  who  has  not 
10  cents  to  spend  for  a  shine,  there  is  just  one  way 
to  get  it:  do  it  himself,  and  it  is  for  him  to  decide 
whether  or  not  the  shine  is  worth  the  effort.  One 
time  it  may  be,  another  time  it  may  not.  For  the 
man  with  a  dime,  however,  there  is  a  choice.  He  can 
have  a  shine  by  spending  his  strength,  or  10  cents, 
and  if  he  is  sensible  he  spends  the  one  which  at  that 
moment  is  worth  less  to  him. 

The  same  thing  apphes  to  the  housewife  who  wants 
clean  clothes.  If  she  has  a  choice,  she  decides  which  is 
3  33 


worth  less  to  her,  money  or  strength.  She  then  saves 
the  one  and  spends  the  other.  If  she  does  not  have 
a  choice  but  still  yearns  for  clean  linen,  she  must 
wash  it  herself. 

When  the  school  undertakes  to  teach  girls  house- 
hold management,  it  tries  to  present  to  them,  clearly 
and  forcefully,  just  this  situation.  For  Euclid  Avenue 
clean  clothes  and  clean  shoes  present  no  problem. 
Murray  Hill  pays  a  good  stiff  price  in  manual  labor 
for  either  one. 

The  statement  was  made  that  the  two  viewpoints 
concerning  model  housekeeping  apartments  were  not 
necessarily  antagonistic,  since  their  difference  is  one 
of  method,  not  purpose.  One  side  held  that  simple 
equipment,  such  as  community  homes  afforded, 
should  be  used,  the  other  the  best  possible  tools  for 
doing  the  work  in  hand.  The  solution  Ues  in  combina- 
tion. Emphasis  belongs  on  understanding  the  job,  and 
knowing  about  the  tools  that  can  be  used.  No  girl 
should  be  allowed  to  burn  oatmeal  because  she  has 
no  double  boiler,  nor  iron  a  waist  badly  because  she 
has  to  use  an  old-fashioned  flatiron  instead  of  an 
electric  one.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  her  right  as  an 
individual  and  as  a  member  of  a  progressive  society 
to  be  shown  the  easiest  possible  way  to  do  good  work. 
The  standard  should  be  the  objective  one  of  good 
work;  not  the  subjective  one  of  good  intentions.  The 
model  apartment  should  train  girls  to  make  the  best 
of  what  they  have,  and  at  the  same  time  show  them 
how  much  more  can  be  accomplished  in  less  time 
with  less  effort  when  suitable  tools  are  used.    It  is  a 

34 


valuable  adjunct  to  teaching  domestic  science  and 
arts  in  the  schools. 


Elementary  Industrial  Schools 

Brownell  and  Mound  are  handling  their  work  in 
somewhat  different  fashion  from  other  elementary- 
schools.  Brownell  especially  stresses  industrial  work 
for  both  boys  and  girls.  It  draws  children  13  and  14 
years  old  from  all  over  the  city.  Generally  these 
children  have  done  poor  academic  work  and  are  sent 
to  be  given  a  chance  in  another  direction.  Frequently 
the  change  is  what  they  need.  They  do  well  in 
handwork  and  show  marked  improvement  in  their 
studies.  The  course  is  a  two  year  one  and  corresponds 
to  the  seventh  and  eighth  years  in  other  schools. 

Girls  have  both  household  science  and  arts  the 
first  year.  The  second  year  they  specialize  in  one  or 
the  other,  having  a  90  minute  lesson  daily.  This 
extra  time  girls  spend  not  on  theory,  but  on  gaining 
skill  and  proficiency  in  organizing  and  handling  the 
practical  work. 

The  school  records  show  that  a  good  many  of  the 
girls  make  immediate  use  of  this  training  in  wage- 
earning  occupations.  They  go  out  as  housemaids  or 
nurses,  dressmakers  or  milUners'  assistants,  or  into 
large  department  stores  where  their  textile  work  is  of 
value.  Their  weekly  wages  vary  greatly,  but  $5  per 
week  is  a  fair  starting  point,  with  board  for  the  girls 
who  go  out  as  housemaids.  Follow-up  records  are 
new,  but  in  the  few  available  there  are  several  in- 

35 


stances  where  girls  earned  $8  or  $10  per  week  within 
two  years  after  leaving  school. 


Summary 

1.  Field  work  for  this  report  was  begun  in  May,  1915, 
when  visits  were  made  to  all  cooking  centers  then  in 
operation,  and  to  special  or  regular  classrooms  while 
sewing  lessons  were  in  progress.  When  possible,  each 
visit  included  a  short  conference  with  teachers  and 
principals,  and  occasionally  the  visitor  made  an  op- 
portunity to  chat  with  the  children.  In  conference 
with  the  supervisor  of  household  arts,  a  study  was 
made  of  what  material  was  on  record  in  the  superin- 
tendent's office.  Other  persons  in  this  office  and  that 
of  the  director  of  schools  furnished  or  checked  in- 
formation received  elsewhere. 

2.  This  is  the  first  separate  report  on  household 
arts  made  by  any  school  survey.  Its  purpose  is  to 
serve  educational  needs  by  studying  present  condi- 
tions and  forecasting  future  developments. 

3.  The  first  household  arts  and  science  classes 
were  estabUshed  in  the  United  States  in  eastern  cities 
in  the  early  eighties.  The  movement  spread  rapidly; 
normal  schools  and  colleges  established  special 
classes;  and  in  1909  the  American  Home  Economics 
Association  was  formed. 

4.  Household  science  courses  in  Cleveland  date 
from  1884.  In  1893  the  first  grade  centers  for  cook- 
ing were  established  in  the  regular  public  schools. 

5.  There  are  at  present  20  regular  and  seven  special 

36 


cooking  centers  in  the  public  schools.  Cooking  is 
taught  to  all  girls  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  years. 
Each  center  cares  for  approximately  300  children  a 
week.  The  estimated  cost  of  initial  equipment  is 
$1,200,  with  $22  a  year  for  upkeep.  The  household 
science  centers  are  cheerful  and  well  kept. 

6.  In  older  centers  the  hollow  square  arrangement 
of  tables  with  single  gas  burners  is  used.  In  newer 
schools  the  small  group  of  six  children  with  one  fam- 
ily-size gas  range  is  more  frequently  found.  Cleve- 
land for  the  most  part  has  these  kitchen  laboratory 
centers  but  has  placed  model  apartments  in  a  few 
of  the  newer  schools. 

7.  Several  schools  have  special  rooms  for  household 
arts,  with  sewing  machines,  lockers,  display  cases, 
and  other  equipment. 

8.  The  supervisor  of  household  arts  is  an  educa- 
tional officer  responsible  to  the  superintendent  of 
schools  and  appointed  on  his  recommendation.  She 
prepares  the  course  of  study;  supervises  the  work  of 
the  special  teachers  of  those  subjects  and  the  ele- 
mentary teachers  in  sewing;  and  selects  equipment 
and  plans  arrangement  of  new  centers.  Clerical  as- 
sistance is  inadequate  to  handle  the  necessary  routine 
clerical  work  of  her  office.  As  a  consequence  the 
supervisor  is  forced  to  neglect  her  supervisory  duties 
for  clerical  work. 

9.  The  household  arts  corps  consists  of  a  super- 
visor, 27  cooking  teachers,  and  four  sewing  teachers. 
They  are  well  liked  by  principals  and  children,  are  in- 
terested, conscientious,  painstaking,  and  well  trained. 

37 


10.  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  teachers  of  house- 
hold science  in  Cleveland  fail  to  appreciate  the  wider 
aspects  of  their  work.  They  are  interested  in  methods 
but  pay  little  attention  to  selection  of  subject  matter, 
reasons,  or  results. 

11.  Cleveland  schools  have  secured  well  trained 
teachers  at  bargain  prices.  They  have  had  on  the 
average  longer  preparation  for  their  work  than  have 
the  manual  training  teachers,  but  their  salaries  begin 
at  $500  per  year  with  a  maximum  after  10  years  of 
$1,000,  while  the  manual  training  teachers  begin  at 
$900,  with  a  maximum  of  $1,500.  Twenty  out  of  the 
31  household  arts  teachers  receive  $750  a  year  or  less. 
This  salary  is  seriously  inadequate. 

12.  The  elementary  school  principals  are  uni- 
formly in  favor  of  household  arts  teaching  in  the 
grades.  In  most  cases  they  have  paid  Uttle  attention 
to  the  educational  values  aimed  at,  or  the  results 
actually  achieved. 

13.  A  new  course  of  study  is  now  being  used  which 
will  certainly  be  a  decided  improvement  over  that 
formerly  used.  Since  it  has  not  yet  been  tried  in 
detail,  it  cannot  be  discussed  at  length. 

14.  There  are  four  special  teachers  of  household 
arts  dividing  their  time  among  eight  schools.  Their 
courses  include  textile,  machine  and  hand  sewing, 
and  fancy  work.  A  simpler  course  is  given  by  the 
grade  teachers. 

15.  One-piece  cooking  aprons  and  caps  which  cover 
the  hair  would  be  more  hygienic  and  could  be  made 
fully  as  attractive  as  those  now  in  use. 

38 


16.  Printed  lesson  leaves  distributed  at  each  lesson 
and  kept  in  loose-leaf  notebooks  are  preferable  to 
the  hand-written  recipes  and  notes  now  in  use.  The 
present  method  is  inaccurate  and  time  consuming. 

17.  There  are  two  types  of  housekeeping  apart- 
ments in  Cleveland  schools.  One  represents  condi- 
tions commonly  found  in  the  neighborhood;  the 
other  has  the  equipment  found  in  the  best  modern 
apartments.  The  apparent  antagonism  between 
these  two  methods  is  one  of  appearance  only.  The 
model  apartments  should  train  girls  to  make  the  best 
of  what  they  have,  and  at  the  same  time  show  them 
how  much  more  can  be  accomplished  in  less  time 
with  less  effort  when  suitable  tools  are  used.  The 
model  apartment  should  arouse  girls  to  strive  for 
better  conditions,  and  is  a  valuable  adjunct  to  the 
teaching  of  domestic  science  and  arts  in  the  schools. 


39 


CHAPTER  II 

RELATION  OF  HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  TO 
ELEMENTARY  EDUCATION 

The  argument  most  commonly  advanced  in  favor  of 
household  arts  teaching  in  the  elementary  schools  is 
that  it  trains  girls  to  be  good  homemakers  and  house- 
keepers. The  two  are  thought  of  as  overlapping, 
intermingling,  as  being  almost  synonymous.  Courses 
dealing  with  the  subject  matter  of  household  arts  are 
announced  in  different  cities  under  names  such  as 
homemaking,  home  economics,  household  economy, 
household  science,  housewifery,  household  arts,  and 
similar  captions.  In  reality  homemaking  and  house- 
keeping are  different  and  distinct. 

Homemaking  Versus  Housekeeping 

Home!  It  means  something  different  to  each  one; 
and  at  the  same  time  it  represents  to  each  one,  some- 
thing with  which  his  most  intimate  and  personal 
feelings  are  associated.  The  very  word  home  en- 
genders emotion.  '^  Woman,  Home,  Church,'' — 
automatically  feeling  is  substituted  for  thinking 
when  they  are  under  discussion.  This  is  especially 
true  when  the  argument  seems  to  lead  away  from  safe 

40 


and  well  beaten  paths.  Yet  all  this  complex  ma- 
terial which  goes  to  make  up  a  home,  this  intricate 
association  of  four  walls  and  the  fancies  which  vivify 
them,  must  be  subjected  to  critical  study  and  analysis 
before  the  school  can  do  its  part  towards  intelligently 
anticipating  the  needs  of  homes  of  the  future  in  its 
training  of  the  present  generation.  Such  analysis  is 
never  entirely  satisfactory,  but  it  affords  the  one 
means  at  hand  for  separating  out  the  parts  of  the 
problem  which  are  tangible  and  concrete  from  those 
which  are  intangible  and  abstract.  Home  is  a  place 
where  physical  needs  are  considered  and  satisfied, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  place  where  physical  well- 
being  forms  a  basis  for,  and  goes  along  with  the 
expression  and  fulfillment  of  various  social  and 
personal  tastes  and  aspirations. 

Housekeeping  is  a  science,  a  business,  a  vocation, 
and  is  subject  to  objective  rules  and  standards  just 
as  is  any  other  business.  Everyone  can  tell  if  a  room 
has  been  swept  and  dusted;  everyone  knows  the 
difference  between  well  and  poorly  laundered  linen; 
and  everyone  is  fully  conscious  of  the  fact  when  soup 
is  scorched  or  meat  overdone.  Poor  work  and  poor 
management  in  the  realm  of  housekeeping  carry 
their  own  immediate  penalties  with  them  in  the  shape 
of  a  general  family  dissatisfaction.  No  one  pays 
much  attention  when  things  go  well,  but  the  whole 
family  is  up  in  arms  if  a  meal  is  spoiled  in  the  cook- 
ing. This  immediate  resentment  may  be  largely 
accounted  for  on  the  ground  that  everyone  knows 
that  there  are  right  ways  and  wrong  ways  of  doing 

41 


household  work;  that  the  tasks  are  tangible  and  can 
be  learned,  and  that  the  person  who  blunders  does 
so  because  of  carelessness  or  faulty  technique. 
'^Carelessness  and  lack  of  skill  are  not  passed  by 
without  comment  in  stenographer,  salesman,  soldier, 
surgeon,  or  scientist,  so  why  should  they  be  in  a  ser- 
vant or  her  mistress,''  is  the  undercurrent  of  feeling 
which  family  grumbling  expresses. 

Housekeeping,  as  society  is  now  organized,  is 
woman's  economic  contribution  to  the  family  in- 
come; and  her  business  share  in  the  process  of  run- 
ning a  household,  just  as  wage  earning  is  man's. 
She  should  have  a  professional  attitude  toward  her 
work,  but  she  should  not  be  allowed  to  confuse  her 
achievements  as  a  housekeeper  with  her  obligations  as 
a  homemaker,  which  are  much  more  subtle  and  diffi- 
cult of  accomplishment. 

In  contrast  with  this  business  of  housekeeping  is 
homemaking.  Homemaking  is  an  art,  an  avocation, 
and  a  marginal  activity.  It  is  difficult  to  locate  or 
define.  One  family  home  is  made  and  bounded  by 
cook  stove  and  linen  closet,  back  yard  and  Ford; 
while  the  next  door  neighbor  finds  it  in  books,  music, 
friends,  and  out  of  doors.  One  man  makes  his  home 
with  places  and  things;  the  other  with  people  and 
ideas.  It  is  not  a  question  of  right  and  wrong,  or  of 
rules  and  objective  standards  as  in  housekeeping, 
but  of  human  preferences  in  combinations  unlimited. 
The  range  of  materials  with  which  housekeeping  has 
to  deal, — such  as  food,  clothing,  shelter, — is  compara- 
tively simple  as  compared  with  the  range  involved 

42 


in  homemaking.  One  takes  into  account  physical 
necessities;  the  other  emotional  and  intellectual  ap- 
preciations and  values.  The  first  organizes  things; 
while  the  second  creates  a  feeling  atmosphere  accord- 
ing to  the  individual  outlook  upon  life  itself.  The 
housekeeper  is  primarily  concerned  with  quantities; 
the  homemaker  with  qualities.  The  two  functions 
are  not  identical.  They  are  not  even  similar,  and 
there  is  no  absolute  reason  why  a  housekeeper  should 
also  be  a  homemaker  or  a  homemaker  a  housekeeper. 
On  the  contrary  there  may  be  very  good  reason  for 
separating  the  two  functions  and  assigning  them  to 
persons  who  can  perform  one  or  the  other  admirably, 
but  who  cannot  or  prefer  not  to  combine  the  two. 


Education  for  Homemaking 
A  group  of  people  may  live  together  for  years,  they 
may  even  be  united  by  ties  of  blood  and  association 
without  making  a  home  for  themselves.  Such  a  group 
constitutes  a  household  or  a  family,  but  a  home  is 
something  more.  Although  home  has  its  foundations 
laid  deep  in  propinquity  and  the  commonplaces  of 
daily  life,  on  analysis  its  satisfying  qualities  seem  to 
depend  upon  different  factors,  such  as  social  organ- 
ization, use  of  marginal  time,  and  their  interaction 
one  on  the  other. 

For  thousands  of  years  men  have  worked  with 
tools,  but  not  until  150  years  ago  did  they  find  a  sub- 
stitute for  fingers.  The  Industrial  Revolution  insti- 
tuted a  momentous  change;  it  substituted  a  machine 

43 


for  human  fingers.  Today  one  man  and  a  machine 
can  do  the  work  hundreds  of  people  used  to  do.  Ma- 
chines have  made  two  great  contributions  to  the 
welfare  of  society;  more  goods  and  more  free  time; 
but  this  great  boon  of  free  time,  to  be  enjoyed,  must 
be  organized  for  fruitful  use. 

Society  is  just  beginning  to  be  on  familiar  terms 
with  the  strange  new  tendency  of  its  members  to  be 
bored  and  get  into  mischief,  that  never  cropped  out 
to  so  alarming  an  extent  until  machinery  set  time 
free.  If  free  time  then,  is  not  to  become  an  evil,  in- 
stead of  a  boon,  some  sort  of  fruitful  activity  must  be 
devised  to  replace  work  which  once  kept  all  men  busy. 
The  remedy  lies  in  cultivating  individual  personality 
and  a  discriminating  sense  of  human  values.  This 
is  a  problem  that  today  confronts  progressive  society, 
and  both  home  and  school  must  lend  a  hand  in  its 
solution. 

A  long  period  of  preparation  is  required  to  meet 
these  new  responsibilities.  Marginal  time  can  be 
transmuted  into  fruitful  leisure  only  through  a  long- 
continued  developing  experience.  To  be  effective 
this  training  must  run  through  the  whole  curriculum, 
and  every  subject  must  contribute  to  it,  since  its 
strength  lies  not  in  a  specific  content,  but  in  a  habit 
of  mind  and  a  point  of  view. 

Formerly  the  activities  of  homemaking  were  in- 
extricably interwoven  with  those  of  housekeeping. 
Members  of  the  family  found  their  interests  and  op- 
portunities for  self  expression  in  the  household  work, 
neighborhood  trades,  and  home  crafts,  all  carried  on 

44 


under  the  same  roof.  As  industry  became  more  and 
more  specialized,  fields  of  human  interest  and  ac- 
tivity also  became  specialized.  Instead  of  one  long 
undifferentiated  working  day  certain  hours  came  to 
be  set  aside  for  vocational  activity  and  certain  others 
for  leisure  time.  Society  is  beginning  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  securing  for  the  individual  an  op- 
portunity for  full  self  expression  in  his  vocation;  but 
society  is  far  from  realizing  that  full  activity  and  self 
expression  during  leisure  hours  is  of  equal  or  perhaps 
greater  importance.  Members  of  the  group  are  in- 
creasingly carrying  on  their  vocational  activities  out- 
side the  dwelling  place.  They  are  together  only 
during  marginal  hours.  The  problem  of  homemaking 
is  becoming,  therefore,  more  and  more  a  problem 
of  the  use  of  leisure  time. 

Another  great  problem  in  education  for  home- 
making, — and  it  is  closely  related  to  the  problem  of 
how  to  spend  marginal  time, — is  that  of  locating, 
understanding  and  controlling  forces  that  govern  the 
behavior  of  people  living  together  in  society. 

The  outstanding  fact  in  modern  civilization  is 
man's  control  over  nature.  The  whole  organization 
of  modern  society  is  based  upon  it.  The  secret  of 
man's  control  over  natural  forces  is  the  scientific 
method.  This  method  enabled  patient  workers  to 
formulate  principles  which  other  men,  incapable  of 
so  generalizing,  could  use  without  themselves  repeat- 
ing the  initial  work.  In  consequence  steam  and  elec- 
tricity became  beasts  of  burden  for  society,  but  so- 
ciety must  be  on  its  guard  or  they  in  turn  will  master 

45 


it,  so  potent  is  their  influence.  Man  has  yet  to  work 
out  a  similar  organization  for  the  control  of  social 
forces. 

In  any  consideration  of  the  home  as  a  social  insti- 
tution, the  various  characteristics  of  its  individual 
members  must  be  taken  into  account.  Since  the 
home  Hke  any  other  such  organization  rests  on  hu- 
man foundations,  its  final  outcome  must  be  de- 
termined by  them.  If  home  exists  not  as  an  end  in 
itself,  but  as  an  instrument  to  further  human  happi- 
ness and  social  well-being,  and  if  man  is  an  alert, 
active,  gregarious,  and  approval  loving  creature  as 
we  are  coming  to  believe,  then,  home  is  wherever 
one  is  good  company  for  himself  and  those  about 
him. 

It  is  folly  to  talk  of  educating  a  sex  or  even  an  indi- 
vidual member  of  a  group  as  the  ^^homemaker'^  for 
that  group;  for  homemaking,  like  thinking,  to  be  of 
any  value  must  be  for  every  person  therein  concerned 
an  active,  not  a  passive  process.  A  well  kept  house 
with  slippers  warm  by  the  fire,  a  tempting  meal,  and 
the  evening  paper  are  important;  but  they  are  not 
the  essentials  in  a  home.  The  person  in  charge  may 
clear  the  ground  for  and  shape  the  general  structure 
of  the  home,  just  as  in  Cleveland  the  architect-con- 
tractor prepares  those  miles  on  miles  of  little  smoked- 
drab  houses.  But  in  spite  of  his  good  intentions  and 
extensive  advertising,  he  has  built  not  homes,  but 
dweUings.  In  a  very  real  sense  every  man,  every 
woman,  and  every  child  makes  his  or  her  home.  This 
homemaking  process  is  profoundly  affected  by  a 

46 


broad  range  of  human  relationships  and  contacts 
with  the  outside  world.  In  consequence  the  indi- 
viduality of  a  person^s  home  is  in  direct  proportion 
to  the  richness  and  variety  of  these  outside  influences. 

This  does  not  imply  that  homes  should  lack  heads. 
It  means  that  heads  should  direct,  not  dominate 
group  activities,  and  further  that  each  member  of  the 
household  should  be  given  the  opportunity  according 
to  his  maturity,  to  participate  or  not,  as  he  desires, 
in  whatever  leisure  time  activity  concerns  the  group. 
Homes  organized  to  this  end  offer  society  and  the 
indi\ddual  a  liberal  return  for  marginal  tim^e  spent 
in  its  uses. 

Education  for  homemaking  is  needed  by  boys  and 
girls  alike,  but  homemaking  cannot  be  taught  as  a 
school  subject.  The  kind  of  a  home  one  makes  does 
not  depend  upon  a  particular  set  of  facts  about  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter,  organized  into  a  course  by  the 
school.  The  satisfying  qualities  of  home  depend 
rather  upon  the  ability  of  members  of  the  household 
to  cooperate  in  an  enjoyable  and  harmonious  use  of 
their  free  time.  The  school  can  do  much  to  further 
the  development  of  such  ability  in  every  individual, 
but  the  school  cannot  accomplish  it  alone.  This 
eliminates  education  for  homemaking  as  a  separate 
school  problem  and  a  distinct  school  subject;  it 
should  not  be  confused  with  the  strictly  technical 
courses  called  ^^ homemaking^'  now  offered  by  many 
departments  of  household  arts. 


47 


Function  of  Household  Arts  and  Its  Two 

Aspects 

A  gradually  increasing  control  of  natural  resources 
up  to  the  time  of  the  Industrial  Revolution  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  an  enormously  accelerated 
rate  of  control  since,  is  beginning  to  convince  society 
that  there  is  enough  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  avail- 
able for  every  family,  and  every  individual,  to  have 
more  of  them  than  a  bare  subsistence  measure.  In 
other  words  society  is  in  process  of  formulating  a 
progressive  standard  of  living  below  which  it  is  un- 
willing that  any  family  or  any  individual  shall  fall. 
Household  arts  has  a  twofold  contribution  to  make 
to  the  formulation  and  maintenance  of  such  a  pro- 
gressive social  standard  for  right  living.  First  it  can 
give  skill  in  doing  any  or  all  of  the  varied  tasks  con- 
nected with  housekeeping.  This  division  of  house- 
hold arts  can  be  handled  with  a  fair  degree  of  exact- 
ness. According  to  their  needs  housekeepers  can 
secure  training  in  the  various  skills  required  in  their 
occupations,  but  this  training  is  largely  technical  and 
is  planned  for  those  who  are  face  to  face  with  the 
problems  of  directing  a  household.  The  school  should 
provide  opportunity  for  such  training  for  all  who 
need  it,  but  it  is  not  the  best  kind  of  education  for 
elementary  school  children. 

Such  training  is  vocational  in  character  and  educa- 
tors are  striving  to  put  the  emphasis  on  the  prevoca- 
tional.  At  this  period  the  main  function  of  the  school 
is  not  to  give  children  a  specific  and  immediate 
technical  equipment  for  particular  branches  of  in- 

48 


dustry,  whether  garment  making  without,  or  cooking 
within  the  house.  Its  purpose  here  is  a  more  funda- 
mental and  preparatory  one;  it  is  to  stimulate  chil- 
dren to  become  useful  and  valuable  citizens  of  a 
democratic  society  through  making  them  successful 
members  of  the  societies  of  their  childhood, — home 
and  school.  It  happens,  however,  that  particular 
groups  of  children  must  be  wage  earners  or  house- 
keepers as  soon  as  they  leave  school,  or  even  while 
they  are  attending.  The  needs  of  these  groups  should 
be  considered,  but  those  of  the  larger  group  should 
not  be  sacrificed  to  them.  In  the  case  of  girls,  it  is 
the  minority,  not  the  majority,  who  have  immediate 
and  urgent  use  for  technical  training  in  housekeeping. 
Technical  courses  in  housekeeping  belong  in  the  high 
school  or  in  extension  courses  for  adults.  On  the 
other  hand  in  the  elementary  school  emphasis  should 
be  put  on  phases  of  household  arts  which  affect  both 
boys  and  girls  and  which  are  of  immediate,  as  well  as 
of  future,  value  to  them  personally,  rather  than  as 
individuals  responsible  for  the  welfare  of  others. 

The  second  division  of  household  arts  deals  with 
standards  for  right  living  and  it  is  akin  to  health  work 
in  the  schools.  At  this  point  there  should  be  close 
cooperation  with  the  health  authorities.  Sane  habits 
of  eating,  sleeping,  and  living  are  just  as  vital  to  boys 
as  to  girls,  and  should  be  impressed  on  both  by 
whatever  department  has  this  training  in  charge.  All 
children  should  be  taught  what  foods  are  good  for 
them  to  eat  and  why,  but  during  childhood  only  a 
very  few  need  to  know  how  to  cook  those  same  foods. 
4  49 


They  all  ought  to  have  standards  for  judging  quali- 
ties of  various  textiles,  how  warm  they  are,  whether 
or  not  they  absorb  or  shed  water,  what  kinds  are  best 
suited  for  different  purposes,  and  when  a  cheap  grade 
will  do  just  as  well  as  an  expensive  one. 

In  the  elementary  school  increased  emphasis  should 
be  put  upon  spending,  rather  than  on  producing  and 
earning.  All  children  should  be  taught  first  and  fore- 
most to  use  and  enjoy  goods  wisely,  whether  or  not 
their  later  work  will  lie  chiefly  in  the  field  of  earning 
or  spending,  producing  or  consuming.  They  should 
be  taught  something  of  values,  and  educated  to  ques- 
tion the  worth,  actual  and  social,  of  things  they  de- 
sire. Household  arts  education  here  affords  an  op- 
portunity to  create  the  beginning  of  an  intelligent 
public  opinion  regarding  child  labor,  the  sweated 
trades,  and  other  social  and  economic  problems  of 
an  industrial  democracy. 

Both  aspects  of  household  arts  are  important  but 
the  problem  of  the  school  is  one  of  comparative 
values.  One  aspect  of  household  arts  aims  at  skill 
in  doing;  the  other  at  judgment  in  using.  The  lat- 
ter is  the  more  fundamental,  and  is  universal  in  its 
application.  The  elementary  school  should  center 
its  activities  on  giving  children  standards  for  right 
living. 

Selection  of  Subject  Matter 

The  previous  discussion  would  confine  the  main  line 
of  attack  for  household  arts  in  the  elementary  school 
to  problems  directly   involved   in  giving   children 

50 


standards  for  right  living.  This  necessitates  search- 
ing study.  Problems  must  be  isolated  and  separately 
analyzed  in  a  conscious  effort  to  find  out  those  which 
must  be  handled,  wholly  or  in  part,  by  the  school 
because  children  do  not  get  the  needed  control  over 
them  elsewhere,  and  those  which  may  be  omitted  be- 
cause children  have  sufficiently  close  contact  with 
them  outside  of  school. 

Food,  clothing,  and  shelter  are  fundamental  human 
needs.  When  children  are  left  to  their  own  desires 
they  build  houses  of  packing  boxes,  in  snow  banks, 
or  with  two  chairs  and  a  shawl.  Boys  and  girls  play 
together  at  keeping  house.  Teachers  should  foster 
this  interest  which  children  bring  to  school  and  with 
it  as  a  basis  lead  children  on  to  knowledge  and  under- 
standing of  why  housing  problems  arise  when  large 
numbers  of  people  live  together  in  cities.  This  in- 
terest in  human  habitations  runs  through  the  school 
from  kindergarten  to  college  and  may  be  made  to 
link  up  with  almost  every  other  branch  in  the  cur- 
riculum. 

The  second  human  need  is  clothing.  Children 
take  clothes  for  granted,  and  while  New  York^s  East 
Side  children  know  all  too  well  that  clothes  are  made 
from  cloth,  they  have  to  be  persuaded  that  cloth  is 
made  from  wool  which  grows  on  sheep.  This  is 
natural  enough.  Children  see  clothing  being  made 
or  mended  all  about  them,  but  they  do  not  see  shear- 
ing, carding,  spinning,  or  weaving,  for  the  making 
of  textiles  in  becoming  a  factory  industry  has  ceased 
to  be  an  affair  of  household  moment.     In  conse- 

51 


quence,  children's  urgent  needs  in  this  department 
fall  in  the  class  of  standards  for  using,  not  skill  for 
producing.  They  should  know  how  cloth  is  made, 
with  the  emphasis  not  on  processes,  but  upon  a 
''square  deal''  for  and  by  the  people  who  carry  out 
those  processes.  Interest  in  this  department  of  tex- 
tiles as  in  the  department  of  housing,  can  be  made 
important  throughout  the  child's  school  life,  by 
proper  handling  of  other  subjects. 

Sewing  is  generally  begun  in  the  kindergarten  and 
from  there  on  has  a  place  in  the  hand  work  given 
there  and  in  the  lower  grades.  The  general  function 
of  such  work  during  the  first  school  years  is  to  intro- 
duce children  to  processes  which  go  on  all  about 
them,  which  ordinarily  they  do  not  or  cannot  learn 
at  home.  The  reason  for  putting  sewing  as  such  in 
the  elementary  school  is  two-fold;  to  enable  children 
to  handle  a  needle  with  sufficient  skill  to  do  emer- 
gency work,  like  sewing  on  coat  buttons,  taking  a 
tuck,  or  the  like,  and  the  subject  matter  should  be 
chosen  with  this  end  in  view,  and  to  meet  the  needs 
of  boys  and  girls  alike.  It  may  have  a  further  value 
for  girls  in  terms  of  recreation.  This  is  particularly 
true  in  the  case  of  knitting,  crocheting,  tatting,  and 
embroidery.  Sewing  has,  however,  no  value  beyond 
the  use  which  it  serves.  People  learn  to  sew  not  be- 
cause sewing  is  a  better  form  of  activity  than  roller 
skating,  but  because  at  sometime  or  other  everyone 
finds  it  a  convenience  to  be  on  familiar  terms  with  a 
needle.  It  is  entirely  conceivable  that  conditions  will 
change  within  a  short  time  and  make  sewing  a  refine- 

52 


ment  that  the  elementary  school,  pushed  for  time  as 
it  is,  camiot  afford.  The  necessity  for  making  one's 
own  clothes,  or  even  of  mending  them  is  rapidly 
becoming  a  matter  not  alone  of  individual  preference 
but  of  economy.  In  the  big  cities  there  is  an  ever 
increasing  group  of  women  who  rather  enjoy  sewing, 
but  who  cannot  often  afford  to  do  it,  for  their  time 
is  too  valuable  to  be  spent  in  this  way  unless  time 
so  spent  is  counted  against  recreation  and  taken  from 
their  free  margin. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  writer  a  skillfully  planned 
course  in  emergency  and  machine  sewing, — one  90 
minute  lesson  per  week,  throughout  the  fifth  or 
sixth  year, — should  give  girls  all  the  sewing  they 
actually  need,  and  the  necessities  of  the  boys  are 
even  more  easily  met.  Such  a  course  could  be  given 
by  the  regular  teachers,  but  from  an  administrative, 
as  well  as  teaching  standpoint,  it  is  better  to  have 
special  teachers. 

The  third  and  most  important  human  need  of  all 
is  that  of  foods.  No  effort  is  required  to  interest 
children  in  that  department;  such  an  interest  is  one 
of  their  most  fundamental  instincts.  This  depart- 
ment used  to  be  conducted  entirely  by  the  housewife, 
and  children  acquired  needful  knowledge,  skill,  and 
standards  of  judgment  through  enforced  participa- 
tion in  e very-day  household  activities.  Today  all 
this  is  changed.  The  divisions  of  brews  and  simples 
have  gone  to  brewer  and  pharmacist  and  competition 
between  them  is  too  keen  for  the  housewife  ever  to 
regain  supremacy  in  this  field.    Gold  Dust  Twins  and 

53 


Little  Fairy  have  inherited  a  goodly  share  of  another 
department, — household  cleansers.  Colgate  and  Men- 
nen  are  competing  with  Paris  for  toilet  preparations. 
Armour  does  our  butchering,  and  curing;  Campbell 
makes  our  soups;  and  Heinz  more  kinds  of  preserves 
than  the  most  enterprising  colonial  danie  ever  at- 
tempted. Mr.  Hire  and  Mr.  Welsh  have  taken  soft 
drinks;  Mr.  Ward  is  after  batters  and  doughs, — and 
the  National  Biscuit  Company  never  ceases  reiterat- 
ing that  Uneeda  Biscuit.  The  housewife  retains  a 
partial  hold  upon  meats,  vegetables,  salads,  and  des- 
serts,— but  even  on  these  inroads  are  being  made 
by  far-sighted  manufacturers  via  the  delicatessen 
store.  This  momentous  change  is  largely  due  to 
division  of  labor,  specialization,  and  cooperation  of 
modern  industry. 

Lunch  time  in  kindergarten  affords  the  school  its 
first  opportunity  for  instruction  in  the  use  of  food. 
If  the  teacher  so  wills  it,  milk  and  crackers  soon  dis- 
place the  time-honored  pretzel  or  bun,  while  an  or- 
ganized lunch  service  can  do  good  work  along  this 
line  with  children  in  the  grades.  In  the  course  of 
their  regular  work  children  may  learn  a  good  deal 
about  different  foods,  where  and  how  they  are  grown, 
under  what  conditions  they  are  marketed,  and  how 
it  comes  about  that  dates  grown  in  Arabia  can  be 
sold  in  Cleveland  for  10  cents  a  pound. 

Throughout  the  elementary  school  emphasis  be- 
longs on  use  of  foods  rather  than  on  the  preparation. 
Cooking  classes  make  a  valuable  contribution  here, 
if  the  course  is  planned  with  this  end  in  view.    Chil- 

54 


dren  as  children  have  more  use  for  knowledge  of 
what  constitutes  a  good  loaf  of  bread  than  they  have 
for  knowledge  of  how  to  make  bread.  There  is  noth- 
ing inherently  ethical  connected  with  cooking  as  such. 
It  may  be  valuable  as  a  recreational  activity;  it 
may  be  but  a  means  to  an  end,  a  service  process,  just 
as  delivering  groceries  or  typewriting  letters  are 
service  processes.  However,  cooking  is  still  an  im- 
portant activity  in  the  detail  of  daily  life,  and  some 
acquaintance  with  the  kitchen  is  a  convenience  even 
for  children. 

For  emergency  purposes  all  children  ought  to  know 
something  of  cooking  as  of  sewing.  They  should  be 
able  to  lay  a  fire  and  handle  a  stove,  and  prepare  a 
simple  meal  which  would  involve  for  eggs,  boiling; 
for  meats,  boiUng  and  broiling;  and  for  vegetables 
and  cereals,  boiling  and  roasting  (potatoes).  Girls 
enjoy  such  work,  and  boys  will,  too,  if  its  practical 
out-of-door  uses  are  enlarged  upon.  It  is  entirely 
conceivable,  however,  that  the  time  will  come  when 
such  a  working  knowledge  of  kitchen  processes  will 
cease  to  be  a  convenience  and  as  it  becomes  a  trade 
subject  lose  its  right  to  a  place  in  the  curriculum  of 
the  elementary  school. 


A  Housekeeping  Course  in  the  Junior  High 

School 

Elementary  education  is  one  kind  of  insurance  that 
each  generation  takes  out  in  behalf  of  the  next.  Its 
purpose  is  to  teach  all  children  those  things  that  are 

55 


adult  necessities  and  that  they  cannot  learn  by  mere 
looking  on  or  taking  part.  That  is  why  society  sup- 
ports schools  at  public  expense,  makes  attendance 
universal  and  obligatory,  and  decrees  that  they  shall 
teach  such  subjects  as  reading,  writing,  arithmetic, 
and  the  other  similar  studies  of  every  elementary 
curriculum. 

The  present  discussion  has  indicated  that  house- 
hold arts,  as  commonly  taught,  only  partly  justifies 
its  presence  in  the  course  of  study  when  judged  on 
this  practical  basis.  If  the  common  argument  claim- 
ing that  household  arts  trains  girls  to  be  successful 
homemakers  were  a  valid  one,  this  would  eminently 
justify  the  inclusion  of  the  study  in  the  elementary 
course,  for  homemaking  is  an  adult  human  necessity 
and  it  is  not  learned  by  mere  contact  and  participa- 
tion. Unfortunately,  as  we  have  seen,  it  cannot  be 
taught  in  a  formal  school  course. 

Nevertheless  there  exist  in  such  a  city  as  Cleve- 
land certain  potent  reasons  why  it  seems  wise  to 
include  as  a  part  of  the  education  of  all  girls  a  brief 
course  in  practical  housekeeping.  In  this  city  girls 
attend  school  up  to  the  age  of  16.  Among  every  10 
girls  seven  drop  out  of  school  in  the  seventh,  eighth, 
or  ninth  grades.  They  are  about  16  years  of  age. 
Under  the  Ohio  law  it  is  difficult  for  them  to  find 
employment  in  industrial  establishments  until  they 
are  18  years  of  age.  As  a  result  most  of  them  spend 
a  year  or  two  at  home  before  going  to  work.  At 
about  the  age  of  18  a  majority  of  them  do  go  to  work. 
Most  of  them  enter  some  form  of  industrial  employ- 

56 


ment  and  are  wage-earners  for  three,  four,  or  perhaps 
five  years.  Then  the  majority  of  them  marry  and 
set  up  housekeeping  for  themselves.  Most  of  these 
girls  are  of  foreign  extraction  and  a  large  majority 
of  them  come  from  non-Enghsh  speaking  homes.  The 
men  they  marry  come  from  the  same  sorts  of  famihes, 
are  engaged  mainly  in  industrial  work,  and  have  an- 
nual incomes  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1 ,000.  Detailed 
data  concerning  all  these  points  are  to  be  found  in 
the  volumes  of  this  Survey  devoted  to  the  problems 
of  industrial  education. 

As  one  phase  of  the  social  insurance  that  each  gen- 
eration takes  out  in  behalf  of  the  nation  it  seems  the 
part  of  wisdom  for  the  pubUc  schools  to  organize  a 
one-year  housekeeping  course  for  all  girls  designed 
especially  to  meet  the  needs  of  this  majority  that  has 
been  described.  Such  a  course  might  well  be  a  part 
of  the  work  of  the  second  year  of  the  junior  high 
school  which  corresponds  to  the  present  eighth  grade. 
It  should  be  practical  and  intensive  in  nature  and 
endeavor  to  give  the  girls  training  in  meeting  the 
universal  everyday  problems  of  housekeeping.  It 
should  especially  stress  labor-saving  methods  and 
devices. 

Most  of  the  girls  would  ahnost  immediately  put 
what  they  learned  into  practical  application  for  the 
course  would  come  at  a  time  when  the  majority  of 
them  are  able  to  spend  a  year  or  two  at  home.  It 
would  insure  for  all  of  them  a  degree  of  acquaintance 
with  good  housekeeping  methods  that  should  con- 
tribute toward  the  establishment  of  desirable  stand- 

57 


ards  in  their  own  homes  when  they  undertake  their 
management  a  few  years  later. 

If  these  girls  can  be  given  a  fundamental  knowl- 
edge of  those  household  processes  with  which  most 
of  them  will  be  concerned,  they  will  secure  a  certain 
amount  of  technical  skill  and,  what  is  of  far  greater 
value,  learn  to  know  good  work  when  they  see  it. 
They  will  become  better  citizens  and  potentially  bet- 
ter housewives.  They  may  even  acquire  that  most 
insidious  of  all  tastes, — a  liking  for  the  exhilaration 
which  goes  with  good  work.  Society  and  the  family 
gain  thereby,  but  the  chief  gain  is  to  the  girl  herself 
who  learns  to  find  happiness  in  work. 


Summary 

1.  Housekeeping  and  homemaking  are  not  synony- 
mous. They  are  separate  in  life  and  distinct  in 
education. 

2.  Housekeeping  is  a  science,  a  business,  and  a 
vocation,  and  is  subject  to  rules  and  standards  just 
as  objective  as  those  of  any  other  business.  Home- 
making  is  an  art,  an  avocation,  and  a  marginal  ac- 
tivity. It  is  not  a  matter  of  rules,  but  of  human 
preferences  in  combinations  unlimited. 

3.  Housekeeping  is  woman's  economic  contribu- 
tion to  the  family  income.  Home  depends  upon  such 
factors  as  social  organization  and  use  of  marginal 
time. 

4.  The  invention  of  machinery  has  made  two  great 
contributions  to  mankind, — more  goods  and  free 

58 


time.    This  free  time  to  be  enjoyed  must  be  organ- 
ized for  fruitful  use. 

5.  If  free  time  is  not  to  become  an  evil,  fruitful 
activity  must  be  devised  to  replace  work  which  once 
kept  all  men  busy. 

6.  To  function  effectively  in  one's  leisure  time  one 
must  be  educated  for  leisure.  Provision  of  such 
education  is  one  of  the  most  important  tasks  of  the 
public  school. 

7.  Homemaking  must  be  an  active  process  for 
every  person  therein  concerned.  The  school  can  in 
large  measure  equip  boys  and  girls  to  be  home- 
makers;  but  this  highly  socialized  education  should 
not  be  confused  with  strictly  technical  vocational 
courses  now  offered  by  departments  of  household 
arts. 

8.  CiviUzation  may  be  measured  by  man's  in- 
creasing control  over  nature.  Society  is  now  engaged 
in  formulating  a  minimum  standard  of  living.  House- 
hold arts  has  a  two-fold  contribution  to  make. 

9.  First  it  can  give  skill  in  doing  household  work. 
Such  training  is  vocational  in  character.  It  is  not 
the  best  kind  of  education  for  elementary  school 
children. 

10.  The  second  division  of  household  arts  enables 
people  to  form  correct  judgments  regarding  the  use 
of  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  as  they  relate  to  their 
daily  life.  This  is  the  more  important  aspect  of 
household  arts  for  the  elementary  school. 

11.  There  is  much  available  subject  matter  for 
household  arts  teaching  in  the  elementary  school. 

59 


The  problem  of  the  school  is  to  select  for  its  purposes 
that  which  children  need  but  do  not  get  elsewhere. 
12.  The  Survey  recommends  the  establishment  in 
the  junior  high  schools  of  a  one-year  course  for  all 
girls. 


60 


CHAPTER  III 

INFANT  HYGIENE 

'^Have  you  heard  about  the  baby  hygiene  competi- 
tion? The  nurses  are  giving  a  prize  to  the  school  girl 
who  writes  the  best  500  word  essay  on  the  subject/' 
Such,  last  May,  was  often  the  beginning  of  conversa- 
tions between  teachers  of  food  and  sanitation  and 
members  of  the  Survey  Staff.  Questioning  brought 
out  the  fact  that  a  course  in  infant  hygiene  was  being 
given  for  the  second  time  in  the  city  schools.  The 
machinery  was  working  smoothly  and  the  course 
arousing  much  enthusiasm.  To  understand  and  ap- 
preciate this  situation  a  brief  review  is  necessary. 

The  movement  for  the  conservation  of  the  child 
is  nation-wide  and  has  its  roots  back  in  the  third 
quarter  of  the  19th  century  when  kindergartners, 
mothers'  circles,  and  teachers  everywhere,  began  to 
study  the  child  as  an  individual  whose  personality 
should  be  respected.  At  the  close  of  the  century 
scientific  associations  commenced  to  call  attention 
to  the  physical  needs  of  children.  Ten  years  ago  saw 
the  inauguration  of  real  medical  inspection  in  the 
public  schools.  Today  cities  all  over  the  country  are 
taking  care  of  the  health  of  their  school  children. 

While  these  changes  were  taking  place  within  the 

61 


school,  momentous  ones  were  going  on  outside. 
Under  Roosevelt,  conservation  of  national  resources 
became  a  live  political  issue.  Study  of  forests,  coal, 
water  power,  land,  cows,  chickens,  and  pigs  gradually 
brought  the  pubhc  at  large  to  a  realization  that  citi- 
zens too  have  an  economic  value,  and  that  of  all  the 
nation's  assets  children  are  the  most  valuable.  Na- 
tional and  state  child  labor  committees  empha- 
sized this  same  idea.  In  1912,  after  much  agitation, 
the  Federal  Children's  Bureau  was  started.  This 
Bureau  was  conceived  with  the  deliberate  purpose  of 
conserving  the  Ufe  and  health  of  all  children.  For 
its  slogan  the  Bureau  chose  ^^Baby  Saving,''  for  baby 
saving  is  the  root  of  the  whole  situation  and  the  best 
place  of  attack. 

The  Cleveland  Child  Welfare  Exhibit  of  1913  laid 
particular  emphasis  on  baby  saving.  Widespread 
enthusiasm  was  aroused  throughout  the  city  and 
various  organizations  especially  interested  in  this 
problem,  such  as  the  Visiting  Nurses'  Association  and 
the  Babies'  Dispensary,  began  a  campaign  with  the 
direct  result  that  in  April,  1914,  infant  hygiene  was 
introduced  into  the  eighth  grade  of  the  elementary 
schools. 

The  writer  is  keenly  impressed  with  the  necessity 
and  far-reaching  importance  of  child  conservation, 
but  she  does  raise  certain  questions  with  reference 
to  the  part  which  may  properly  be  played  by  the  ele- 
mentary school  in  actually  carrying  forward  such  a 
policy  of  public  moment.  Briefly  stated,  these  ques- 
tions are  as  follows:    First,  does  elementary  school 

62 


teaching  further  this  work  to  any  such  extent  as  its 
advocates  believe?  Second,  does  it  dupUcate  or  over- 
lap work  which  may  well  be  carried  by  existing  organ- 
izations such  as  milk  stations  and  babies^  dispen- 
saries? Third,  does  it  offer  in  immediate  value  to  the 
girl,  or  in  a  future  value  to  her  child,  returns  equal 
to  or  greater  than  those  of  the  work  which  it  dis- 
places? 

Arguments   for  Teaching   Infant  Hygiene  in 
Elementary  Schools 

The  arguments  which  put  infant  hygiene  into  the 
schools  are  these :  Thousands  of  babies  die  yearly  for 
lack  of  proper  care;  mothers  are  too  ignorant,  too 
stupid,  too  careless,  or  too  busy  to  learn  how  to  care 
for  the  babies  and  frequently  this  care  falls  on  an 
older  sister.  This  older  sister  is  at  school  and  the 
school  can  teach  her  how  to  care  for  the  baby.  Such 
teaching  will  reach  the  baby,  the  home,  the  mother, 
and  perhaps  the  neighbors.  Moreover,  it  prepares  the 
girl  to  care  intelligently  for  her  own  baby  later  on. 
This  last  argument  won  the  day. 

What  the  Elementary  School  is  Doing 
Twenty-five  hundred  eighth  grade  girls  are  now  hav- 
ing a  regular  course  in  infant  hygiene.  This  course 
takes  the  place  of  eight  weeks'  carefully  planned 
work  in  food  and  sanitation,  four  lessons  being  taught 
by  the  regular  instructors  in  these  subjects  and  four 
by  the  school  nurses.  The  course  is  as  follows: 

63 


1.  Causes  and  prevention  of  the  present  high  death 

rate  and  how  to  keep  the  baby  well  (taught 
by  nurse). 

2.  Milk:     its    composition,    taught    by    making 

butter,  cottage  cheese,  junket,  custard  (taught 
by  teacher). 

3.  Milk:    modified,  pasteurized,  sterilized.    Care 

of  bottles  (taught  by  teacher). 

4.  Feeding:  maternal,  artificial.       Importance  of 

pure  milk.   Danger  of  so-called  ^^  Baby  Foods  '^ 
(taught  by  nurse). 

5.  Clothing:   discussion  of  the  outfit  and  cutting 

of  patterns  (taught  by  teacher). 

6.  First  home  treatment  in  the  beginning  of  in- 

testinal disturbances  (taught  by  nurse). 

7.  Bed,    bedding,    sleep,    airing,    and    handling 

(taught  by  teacher). 

8.  Bath:  the  essentials  of  the  bath  and  how  much 

good  it  does  the  baby  (taught  by  nurse). 

There  is  a  general  belief  that  this  teaching  costs  very 
little.  The  nurses  and  household  arts  teachers  give  it. 
The  rooms  are  at  hand  and  in  several  of  the  centers 
bedrooms  adjoin  the  kitchens.  The  additional  equip- 
ment required,  such  as  one  baby  outfit  with  blanket, 
bassinet,  tub,  and  other  necessary  articles,  cost  but 
a  few  dollars. 

However,  this  course  is  not  so  inexpensive  as  at 
first  it  seems.  School  nurses  give  half  of  the  course 
which  means  that  while  they  are  teaching  the  special 
teachers  are  idle,  in  the  sense  that  this  school  time 
is  not  being  used  for  teaching  purposes.  So  the  school 
pays  for  teaching  time  amounting  to  536  periods  of 
from  45  to  60  minutes  each,  for  which  it  gets  no 

64 


specific  return.  This  loss  is  equivalent  to  more  than 
half  of  the  teaching  time  of  one  household  arts 
teacher  for  one  year.  She  teaches  on  an  average  15 
periods  of  90  minutes  each  for  36  weeks,  or  530  of 
these  longer  periods  for  the  year.  When  the  nurses 
give  infant  hygiene,  a  like  amount  of  time  is  being 
taken  from  their  regular  work.  Moreover,  while  the 
girls  are  having  cooking  and  boys  manual  training, 
their  regular  grade  teacher  is  not  teaching  and  a 
portion  of  this  idle  time  should  properly  be  charged 
up  against  infant  hygiene. 

In  addition  to  the  actual  money  cost  there  is 
another  factor  to  be  considered:  the  work  of  the  de- 
partment of  medical  inspection.  The  nurses  are  in- 
dispensable to  this  department  and  they  are  excep- 
tionally able  and  intelligent  in  carrying  forward  its 
policy  and  plans.  Cleveland  needs  more  nurses. 
Those  she  has  are  already  overburdened  with  work 
and  their  own  department  cannot  spare  them  from 
the  regular  routine  for  134  periods  per  week  for  four 
weeks  without  being  greatly  handicapped  thereby. 
It  is  open  to  serious  question  whether  infant  hygiene, 
which  meets  a  real  need  on  the  part  of  a  few  children, 
approaches  in  importance  the  regular  work  of  medi- 
cal inspection  which  renders  valuable  service  to  all. 


Infant  Hygiene  and  the  Wokk  It  Displaces 

In  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  90  minutes  per 

week  are   allotted  to   foods   and  sanitation.    The 

ground  to  be  covered  is  extensive  and  most  careful 

5  65 


manipulation  is  necessary  to  get  everything  into  36 
lessons.  If  the  planning  is  well  done  the  girls  get 
from  this  course  much  knowledge  of  real  and  im- 
mediate value  to  them  as  individuals  taking  an 
active  part  in  the  Ufe  of  home,  of  school,  or  of  in- 
dustry. 

Infant  hygiene  displaces  eight  of  these  lessons  or 
22  per  cent  of  a  yearns  work  in  foods  and  sanitation. 
To  be  sure,  part  of  the  theory  given  in  the  infant 
hygiene  course  is  included  in  the  other,  but  the  major 
portion  of  this  work  is  highly  technical,  and  involves 
the  actual  details  of  the  care  of  a  baby  in  all  the 
minutiae  of  its  daily  life.  Moreover,  that  part  of  the 
course  which  deals  with  hygiene  in  its  broader  aspects 
is  included  in  any  well  arranged  work  in  foods  and 
sanitation  whether  or  not  infant  hygiene  is  given. 


Adult  Responsibility  and  the  Adolescent  Girl 

Training  in  all  the  details  connected  with  the  care  of 
a  Uttle  baby  may  be  necessary  because  home  con- 
ditions are  bad,  just  as  training  for  wage-earning  at 
the  age  of  14  may  be  necessary  for  Uke  cause,  but 
this  situation  should  be  honestly  faced,  with  thought- 
ful consideration  as  to  whether  such  training  will 
eventually  do  away  with  the  need  for  it  or  instead 
help  fasten  a  bad  economic  condition  upon  society. 
It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  carrying  of 
full  adult  responsibility,  whether  it  be  a  wage-earn- 
ing or  a  home  responsibility,  imposes  an  unfair  bur- 
den on  girls  at  a  time  when  they  are  physically  unfit 

66 


to  carry  it.  In  this  connection  a  comment  of  one  of 
the  elementary  school  principals,  who  is  located  in 
an  Italian  neighborhood,  furnishes  a  suggestion. 
The  open  air  class  and  its  population  were  under  dis- 
cussion. The  principal  noticed  that  there  were  al- 
ways more  girls  than  boys  in  the  class.  This  condition 
she  thought  might  be  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that 
daily  life  for  even  the  youngest  girls  was  one  of  house- 
hold drudgery,  but  for  boys  it  was  a  carefree,  ball- 
playing  existence. 

The  care  required  by  young  children  is  of  a  highly 
specialized  and  technical  kind.  It  is  too  difficult  for 
young  girls  really  to  master,  and  the  penalty  for  non- 
mastery  has  grave  consequences  for  them,  for  the 
babies,  and  for  society  at  large.  Grammar  school 
girls  are  adolescent  girls,  and  they  should  no  more  be 
expected  to  carry  full  adult  responsibility  than  they 
should  be  to  do  full  adult  work.  Too  great  emphasis 
can  hardly  be  made  at  this  point.  Adolescent  chil- 
dren are  in  a  peculiarly  critical  period  of  develop- 
ment, as  we  are  beginning  to  realize.  They  are  unde- 
veloped; they  are  immature;  and  they  cannot  be 
forced  physically  or  mentally  without  serious  conse- 
quences to  themselves  and  society.  At  this  age,  girls 
especially  are  apt  to  be  moody,  introspective,  and 
dreamy.  What  they  most  need  is  an  objective,  a 
tangible  world,  with  emphasis  on  the  kind  of  a  place 
it  is,  how  it  is  organized,  and  how  they  must  be 
equipped  to  make  headway  in  it.  The  majority  will 
have  to  cope  with  the  economic  and  social  aspects 
of  an  industrial  world  for  from  five  to  15  years  before 

67 


they  have  homes  of  their  own;  some  few  will  spend 
a  life  time  in  industry. 

Time   When   Specialized   Training   Should   be 

Given 

Among  the  great  numbers  of  foreign  children  in  the 
Cleveland  schools  are  many  upon  whom  the  burden 
of  child  care  falls  directly,  but,  before  new  subject 
matter  for  general  consumption  is  introduced  into 
the  curriculum,  the  general  needs  of  all  children 
should  be  carefully  considered.  For  the  good  of  the 
babies  and  for  the  good  of  the  girls  infant  hygiene 
should  be  taught  only  to  those  girls  upon  whom  such 
burdens  actually  fall  or  are  likely  to  fall  within  a  very 
short  period.  The  best  time  to  teach  people  is  when 
they  have  an  actual  need  for  the  information  and  the 
technique  of  the  subject.  The  majority  of  girls  are 
not  required  to  make  all  their  own  clothing  or  direct 
the  affairs  of  a  household.  Their  part  is  participa- 
tion in  the  activities  around  them.  Training  in  spe- 
cific technique  in  any  one  of  these  activities,  or  in 
stenography  or  bookkeeping  or  typesetting,  should  be 
given  when  such  need  is  imminent,  whether  that  need 
be  for  the  bathing  of  babies  or  the  filing  of  bills,  be- 
cause a  technique  is  soon  forgotten  if  not  used  and 
it  is  foolish  to  learn  one  for  which  there  is  little  if 
any  immediate  need. 

Hygiene  for  Boys  and  Girls  Alike 

Careful  instruction  and  training  in  personal  hygiene 
belongs  in  the  elementary  school  curriculum,  and  it 

68 


should  be  given  to  boys  and  girls  alike.  Knowledge 
regarding  community  health  should  be  flung  so 
broadcast  that  the  school  child  and  the  student, 
the  stenographer  and  the  scholar,  the  salesman  and 
the  soldier,  in  short,  all  society  may  recognize 
unhygienic  conditions,  and  feel  the  obligation  and 
urgency  of  doing  something  to  remedy  them.  Per- 
sonal hygiene  made  so  to  function  in  the  lives 
of  children  would  be  an  enormous  asset  to  them  and 
to  society. 

During  their  progress  through  the  elementary 
school  all  children  should  learn  something  about  the 
care  of  normal  people,  of  exceptional  people,  old 
people,  sick  people,  and  babies,  and  that  babies, 
especially,  require  delicate  handling.  They  ought 
to  know  where  such  instruction  can  be  secured  and 
they  ought  to  be  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
having  expert  advice  and  assistance  when  responsi- 
ble for  little  babies.  Such  teaching  might  properly 
be  planned  by  the  school  health  authorities  in  coope- 
ration with  the  department  of  household  arts,  and  it 
would  make  use  of  any  and  all  material  which  might 
serve  to  develop  in  children  habits  of  personal  hy- 
giene. Boys  and  girls  trained  in  the  habit  of  respect- 
ing and  caring  for  their  own  persons  would  not  be 
likely,  later  on,  to  neglect  their  children. 

Effectiveness  of  Baby  Saving  Institutions 
Milk  stations  and  babies^  dispensaries  are  an  out- 
growth of  the  past  two  decades,  and,  in  general,  con- 

69 


structive  plans  for  baby  saving  on  the  part  of  hos- 
pitals and  dispensaries  are  a  still  more  recent  de- 
velopment. 

The  public  is  just  awakening  to  the  possibilities  of 
an  effective  educational  campaign  on  the  part  of 
these  institutions  whose  work  brings  them  in  direct 
personal  contact  with  mothers  or  other  adults  re- 
sponsible for  the  care  of  babies.  Frequently  this  first 
contact  is  occasioned  by  the  baby^s  illness,  sometimes 
a  serious  one  (an  enforced  system  of  birth  registra- 
tion followed  up  by  a  visiting  nurse  might  remedy 
this),  but  the  contact  between  hospital  and  home  is 
sometimes  strengthened  by  the  very  urgency  of  the 
mother^s  need  for  instruction  and  guidance  offered 
at  a  critical  moment. 

These  institutions  are  doing  excellent  work. 
Each  year  they  win  a  firmer  foothold  in  the  com- 
munity and  thereby  open  up  further  possibilities  for 
usefulness.  They  are  undertaking  a  new  and  difficult 
kind  of  educational  program,  and  while  their  tech- 
nique is  not  yet  perfect,  it  is  already  yielding  aston- 
ishing results.  Community  responsibility  for  pro- 
viding the  right  kind  of  physical  care  for  young  chil- 
dren is  one  which  these  institutions  may  properly 
be  expected  to  carry.  They  have  recognized  this  op- 
portunity and  are  attempting  to  take  advantage  of 
it.  Before  assuming  to  carry  this  part  of  the  burden 
of  child  care,  the  public  school  should  make  an  earn- 
est effort  to  find  out  whether  its  services  are  espe- 
cially needed  in  this  particular  field.  Such  an  inquiry 
might  very  well  show  that,  given  adequate  support, 

70 


organizations  already  at  work  are  better  able  to  cope 
with  the  situation. 

Summary 

1.  This  report  is  based  on  classroom  observ'ations ; 
on  discussions  "vsith  teachers  and  nurses;  on  like 
conferences  with  the  supen^or  of  household  arts, 
the  director  of  medical  inspection,  and  the  head 
school  nurse,  as  well  as  with  other  persons  in  Cleve- 
land and  elsewhere,  whose  interests  and  work  lie  in 
the  field  of  pubUc  health  education. 

2.  Infant  hygiene  is  one  of  the  important  phases  of 
the  conservation  movement.  It  has  its  roots  in  the 
early  part  of  the  19th  centur>%  but  was  brought  into 
prominence  in  1912,  by  the  creation  at  Washington 
of  a  Federal  Children's  Bureau. 

3.  The  1913  Cleveland  Child  Welfare  Exhibit 
focussed  attention  on  baby  sa\'ing.  This  resulted  in 
a  campaign  by  the  Babies'  Dispensary-,  the  Visiting 
Nurses'  Association,  and  hke  organizations.  One 
year  lat^r  infant  hygiene  was  introduced  into  the 
pubUc  schools.  In  April,  1915,  there  were  2,500 
eighth  grade  girls  recei\ing  a  regular  eight  lesson 
course  in  infant  hygiene, 

4.  The  Surv'ey  asks  the  questions:  Does  ele- 
mentary school  teaching  further  this  work  to  the 
extent  that  its  advocates  beUeve?  Does  it  duphcate 
work  which  may  better  be  carried  by  existing  organ- 
izations, such  as  milk  stations  and  babies'  dispen- 
saries? Does  it  offer  either  in  an  immediate  value  to 
the  girl,  or  in  a  future  value  to  her  child,  returns 

71 


equal  to  or  greater  than  those  of  the  work  which  it 
displaces? 

5.  The  arguments  which  put  infant  hygiene  in  the 
schools  are  briefly: 

1.  Thousands  of  babies  die  every  year  because 

mothers  do  not  take  proper  care  of  them. 

2.  Girls  at  school  can  be  taught  how  to  care  for 

babies. 

3.  It  costs  little  to  give  such  a  course. 

4.  Teaching  can  be  given  by  household  arts 

teachers  and  school  nurses  who  are  already 
on  the  payroll. 

6.  The  costs  of  infant  hygiene  are  two-fold:  The 
money  cost  of  teaching  time  and  the  loss  of  other 
work  in  foods  and  sanitation  and  medical  inspection 
displaced  by  infant  hygiene. 

7.  Community  responsibility  for  the  right  kind  of 
physical  care  for  young  children  has  been  recognized 
and  assumed  by  baby  saving  institutions,  such  as 
milk  stations  and  babies'  dispensaries.  Before  as- 
suming this  part  of  the  burden  of  child  care,  the  pub- 
lic school  should  make  an  effort  to  find  if  its  services 
will  be  of  especial  value. 

8.  The  care  required  by  young  children  is  of  a 
highly  technical  kind.  It  is  too  difficult  for  girls  to 
master,  and  the  penalty  for  non-mastery  has  grave 
consequences.  Grammar  school  girls  should  no  more 
be  expected  to  carry  full  adult  responsibility  than 
they  are  to  do  full  adult  work.  Therefore  infant  hy- 
giene should  be  taught  only  to  those  girls  who  must 
actually  be  responsible  for  the  care  of  little  babies. 

72 


9.  In  advocating  that  the  teaching  of  infant  hy- 
giene be  limited  to  those  girls  who  will  make  immedi- 
ate use  of  such  training  the  writer  wishes  to  urge  the 
further  extension  of  hygiene  education,  which  should 
be  taught  to  boys  and  girls  alike. 

10.  Such  a  course  involves  thoughtful  planning 
and  skilful  teaching.  If  nurses  are  to  help  teach  it 
they  should  be  trained  in  effective  methods  of  class- 
room instruction.  Household  arts  teachers,  on  the 
other  hand,  need  not  only  skill  in  teaching  method, 
but  a  broad  and  suggestive  background  in  public 
health  matters.  Hygiene,  whether  taught  to  all 
children  or  only  a  few,  should  be  as  well  taught  as 
any  other  subject  in  the  curriculum. 

11.  From  time  to  time  society  is  forced  to  make 
unfair  demands  upon  individuals  or  classes  in  behalf 
of  the  group  as  a  whole.  Infant  hygiene  teaching  in 
the  elementary  school  is  based  on  one  of  those  de- 
mands. It  is  a  kind  of  class  education  given  to  girls 
who  are  obliged  to  carry  responsibihty  beyond  their 
age,  because  mothers  are  too  ignorant,  too  stupid, 
or  too  heavily  burdened  to  care  for  their  babies,  or 
because  mothers  are  dead  and  society  shortsightedly 
sacrifices  one  child  in  the  interests  of  another.  Such 
a  program  is  justifiable  only  as  an  emergency  meas- 
ure, but  it  cannot  be  justified  as  a  universal  pro- 
gram of  education. 


73 


CHAPTER  IV 

HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  IN  CLEVELAND  HIGH 

SCHOOLS 

Cleveland  is  deservedly  proud  of  its  two  technical 
high  schools.  In  May,  1915,  they  housed  nearly 
3,000  students  or  one-third  of  the  city's  public  high 
school  population.  The  remaining  high  school  stu- 
dents were  distributed  among  the  six  academic  and 
two  commercial  schools.  However,  as  most  of  the 
students  of  the  technical  high  schools  are  boys,  the 
girls  constituted  far  less  than  one-third  of  the  high 
school  girls  of  the  city.    Their  number  was  880. 

A  four  year  course  in  household  arts  was  first 
organized  at  East  Technical  High  School  which  was 
opened  in  1908.  Four  years  later,  in  1912,  West 
Technical  High  School  was  opened,  and  it  Ukewise 
gave  four  years  to  this  subject.  In  September,  1915, 
household  arts  was  further  extended  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  two  year  course  into  the  academic  high 
schools.  The  course  is  new  and  untried,  and  is  being 
subjected  to  constant  study  and  criticism  by  the 
school  officers.  In  consequence  this  part  of  the  report 
is  confined  to  general  rather  than  detailed  discussion. 

Likewise  in  September,  1915,  junior  high  schools 
were  opened  at  Detroit  and  Empire  schools.    As  yet 

74 


only  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  have  been  in- 
cluded in  the  junior  high  schools.  All  the  girls  must 
take  either  one  double  period  of  household  arts  or 
elect  a  fuller  five  period  course.  As  yet  the  house- 
hold arts  work  is  comparable  to  that  of  the  elemen- 
tary schools,  but  will  expand  with  the  addition  of  the 
third  year  and  no  doubt  follow  the  high  school  Unes. 
Night  school  work  in  domestic  science  was  started 
at  both  technical  schools  when  they  were  opened. 
This  now  consists  of  two  terms  a  year  of  10  weeks 
each.  The  usual  night  school  fee  of  $5  is  charged 
with  a  rebate  of  $3.50  if  the  pupil  attends  at  least 
15  lessons.  In  one  of  the  classes  of  36  pupils,  the 
following  occupations  were  represented: 

9  stenographers 
5  teachers 
4  clerks 
4  dressmakers 
4  housewives 
3  bookkeepers 
3  tailoresses 
2  cigar  makers 
1  milliner 
1  waitress 

Most  of  these  pupils  were  young  women  who  were 
making  definite  preparation  for  taking  up  household 
duties  in  their  own  homes. 

Space,  Physical  Equipment,  and  Costs 
There  is  a  generous  space  allotment  to  household 
arts  in  the  technical  schools  and  the  furnishings  are 

76 


modern  and  in  excellent  repair.  Classrooms  are  light 
and  airy,  and  are  provided  with  liberal  closet  and 
storage  space.  The  rooms  as  a  whole  are  not  over- 
crowded with  equipment  and  the  work  is  so  planned 
that  classes  average  from  15  to  30  girls,  depending 
upon  the  subject  and  how  advanced  the  course  is. 
Household  arts  is  one  of  the  original  departments  in 
the  technical  schools  and  costs  for  equipping  class- 
rooms given  over  to  it  are  included  in  the  cost  of 
buildings  as  a  whole. 

In  1915  the  Board  of  Education  appropriated 
$18,000  for  equipment  (exclusive  of  necessary  struc- 
tural changes)  for  household  science  rooms  in  the  six 
academic  schools.  This  equipment  is  very  much  the 
same  as  that  at  the  technical  schools  and  probably 
does  not  differ  much  in  cost.  Maintenance  for  these 
rooms  is  also  charged  against  the  general  mainte- 
nance fund  set  aside  for  each  building. 

Course  of  Study  in  Technical  Schools 

Most  of  the  girls  who  go  to  technical  schools  take 
their  major  course  in  either  foods  and  sanitation,  or 
clothing  and  textiles;  a  few  take  it  in  applied  design. 
In  addition  to  regular  students  there  is  a  scattering 
of  special  students  throughout  the  various  depart- 
ments. The  schools,  in  giving  a  four  year  course  in 
household  arts,  have  agreed  in  their  threefold  pur- 
pose 'Ho  teach  all  subjects  pertaining  to  the  care  and 
duties  of  the  home  that  girls  may  be  prepared  for 
practical  homekeeping;  to  teach  all  theory  relating 
to  the  above  subject  as  applied  science,  that  girls 

76 


may  acquire  mental  development  as  well  as  prac- 
tical skill;  to  teach  institutional  cookery,  kitchen 
management,  sewing,  and  millinery  as  trade  sub- 
jects, that  students  may  use  them  for  wage-earning 
occupations/'  They  differ  in  details  which  are,  how- 
ever, unimportant  to  this  discussion.  Time  allotted 
to  various  subjects  is  indicated,  in  the  main,  by  the 
schedule  given  below  which  is  the  one  in  operation 
at  East  Technical  High  School. 

COURSE  OF  STUDY  FOR  GIRLS 

First  Year  Periods 

per  week, 

45  minutes 

Subject  each 

English 5 

Mathematics 5 

Botany  and  physiology 5 

Cooking 6 

Sewing 4 

Applied  arts 6 

Physical  training 4  or  3 

Study 10  or  11 

Second  Year 

English 5 

Mathematics 5 

Chemistry 6 

Cooking 4 

Sewing 6 

Applied  arts 4 

Physical  training 4  or  3 

Study 11  or  12 

Third  Year 
Normal  and  college  preparatory  course 

English 5 

German 5 

Medieval  and  modern  history 5 

Domestic  science 4 

Domestic  art 6 

Costume  design 4 

77 


Non-college  course  Period, 

per  weeks 

45  minutes 

Subject  each 

English 5 

Medieval  and  modern  history 5 

Physics 5 

Domestic  science 4 

Domestic  art 6 

Costume  design 4 

Trade  course 

English 5 

Medieval  and  modern  history 5 

Special  technical 25 

Fourth  Year 

Normal  and  college  preparatory  course 

History  and  civics 5 

German 5 

Physics 5 

Domestic  science 4 

Domestic  art 6 

Costume  design 4 

Normal  music 

Non-college  course 

History  and  civics 5 

Science 5 

Elective  academic 5 

Domestic  science 4 

Domestic  art 6 

Costume  design 4 

Trade  course 

History  and  civics 5 

Physics 5 

Special  technical 25 

General  topics  considered  at  academic  and  tech- 
nical schools  are  alike,  but  the  latter  go  into  greater 
detail  and  make  a  conscious  effort  to  correlate  each 
year's  work  with  academic  subjects  as  shown  by  the 
following  program: 

78 


FIRST  YEAR  WORK  GIVEN  IN  OTHER  SUBJECTS 
PERTAINING  TO  FOODS  AND  SANITATION 

Machine  sewing — Hemming  of  dish  cloths  and 
towels;  making  of  holders,  aprons,  and  cases  for 
silver. 

Applied  art — Construction  of  envelope  for  clippings; 
construction  and  decoration  of  a  notebook  cover 
as  a  telephone  pad;  design  for  iron  holder;  design 
for  a  bag;  design  for  towel  decorations  and  house- 
hold linens;  designing  and  selecting  colors  of  mo- 
tives that  may  be  applied  to  household. 

Botany — Cell  structure;  storage  of  food  materials 
in  seeds  and  underground  stems;  food  materials  in 
leaves  and  stalks;  growth  of  molds  and  yeast 
plants. 

Physiology — Digestion  of  each  food  stuff;  uses  of 
foods  in  the  body;  personal  hygiene. 

English — Subjects  pertaining  to  domestic  science 
used  as  themes.  Spelling  and  pronunciation  of 
culinary  terms 

Arithmetic — Problems  involving  cost  of  foods;  rela- 
tion of  nutritive  value  to  cost  of  food;  relation  of 
nutritive  value  to  method  of  preparation;  com- 
parison of  one  method  of  cookery  with  another  as 
to  economy  of  time  and  fuel;  division  of  quantities 
used  in  the  ordinary  recipe  that  the  student  may 
appreciate  the  relation  of  the  individual  to  the 
practical  recipes. 

Data  for  these  problems  are  obtained  from  ob- 
servations made  in  the  kitchen  laboratory.  While 
skill  is  being  acquired  in  preparing  a  food  material 
in  the  school  kitchen,  valuable  information  con- 
cerning the  same  food  is  received  from  proposi- 
tions and  solutions  of  mathematical  problems. 

79 


In  order  to  make  this  plan  work,  boys  and  girls  are 
separated  in  classrooms  as  in  shops  and  laboratories, 
with  the  result  that  while  these  schools  are  nominally 
co-educational,  actually  they  house,  under  the  one 
roof,  separate  boys'  and  girls'  schools. 

Teaching  follows  the  so-called  laboratory  method; 
that  is,  girls  are  required  to  keep  careful  notebooks 
in  which  they  record  their  work  as  if  it  were  a  labor- 
atory experiment  in  chemistry.  In  addition  they 
may  copy  recipes  not  in  the  textbooks  and  whatever 
miscellaneous  notes  they  desire.  Periodically  these 
notebooks  are  collected  and  marked.  Some  few  are 
excellently  kept,  but  teachers  admit  that  getting 
girls  to  keep  their  notes  in  order  and  up  to  date  is 
one  of  the  most  wearing  tasks  they  have. 

Throughout  the  entire  course  in  foods  and  sanita- 
tion emphasis  is  put  on  practical  aspects  of  the  sub- 
ject. During  the  first  two  years  students  work  in 
the  laboratory  kitchens,  but  in  the  third  they  begin 
to  handle  problems  in  connection  with  the  house- 
keeping apartments  fitted  up  in  the  schools.  The 
girls  do  excellent  work  and  seem  thoroughly  to  enjoy 
whatever  activities  go  on  there.  During  the  fourth 
year  previous  work  is  reviewed  and  enlarged  upon, 
and  the  course  as  a  whole  ''considers  organizing, 
dividing,  and  systematizing  work  of  the  household 
and  various  economic  problems  of  the  home.''  Senior 
students  in  West  Technical  High  School,  and  junior 
and  senior  students  at  East  Technical  High  School 
who  wish  to  may  drop  the  regular  course  and  spe- 
cialize either  in  foods  and  sanitation  or  in  clothing 

80 


and  textiles.  At  East  Technical  the  course  is  on 
trade  cookery;  at  West  Technical  on  lunchroom 
management. 

The  Cleveland  technical  high  schools  have  as  their 
immediate  ends  to  prepare  youths  of  both  sexes  for 
a  definite  vocation  and  for  efficient  industrial  citi- 
zenship. The  study  seems  to  indicate  that  these 
schools  do  not  give  girls  the  kind  of  education  that 
fits  them  for  jobs  that  are  open  to  them  when  they 
leave  school.  At  the  end  of  their  course  boys  are  in 
a  different  position,  for  their  four  years^  time  invest- 
ment represents  a  capital  which  almost  immediately 
may  be  made  to  bring  in  on  Saturday  nights, 
about  $6  regular  income.  For  obvious  reasons,  such 
as  going  to  college  or  undertaking  technical  work, 
not  all  boys  seek  positions  immediately  after  gradu- 
ation, but  it  is  probable  that  in  case  of  necessity  all 
could  be  self-supporting  within  a  short  time  after 
leaving  school.  With  girls  apparantly  a  different 
condition  exists.  They  do  not  respond  as  well,  nor 
in  such  numbers  as  boys  to  the  school's  efforts  to 
keep  in  touch  with  them  after  they  leave,  but  what 
information  is  obtained,  pieced  out  with  what  prin- 
cipals and  teachers  know  about  individuals  and 
groups,  throws  a  little  light  on  the  situation. 

Many  girls  plan  to  become  teachers  and  go  on  to 
normal  school  or  college;  about  an  equal  number 
take  up  some  phase  of  secretarial  or  clerical  work  for 
which  they  obtain  specific  training  after  they  leave 
school;  a  few  go  into  commercial  or  business  houses, 
such  as  millinery  or  dressmaking  estabUshments,  or 
6  81 


food  departments  of  restaurants,  or  clothing  depart- 
ments of  stores,  where  their  special  equipment  in 
household  arts  stands  them  in  good  stead  and  serves 
as  a  basis  for  promotion.  A  few  more  go  into  nursing 
or  public  health  work  of  one  kind  or  another  and 
they,  too,  find  that  their  course  gives  them  an  excel- 
lent background  preparation  for  what  they  want  to 
do,  but,  if  the  writer  has  correctly  interpreted  this 
situation  on  which  meager  statistical  material  is 
available,  fully  half  of  them  stay  at  home.  Many 
Cleveland  parents  whose  children  go  to  the  city  high 
schools  do  not  seem  to  expect  or  want  their  daughters 
to  enter  wage-earning  occupations  away  from  home. 
Principals  are  cognizant  of  this  attitude  on  the  part 
of  parents,  which  they  say  becomes  especially  notice- 
able when  courses  for  vocational  work  or  trade  train- 
ing in  any  of  its  many  forms  are  frankly  announced 
as  such.  Boys  demand  such  courses,  girls  and  their 
parents  have  to  be  coaxed  before  girls  will  enter  them, 
for  many  short-sighted  parents  still  say  with  pride, 
'^My  girl  will  never  need  to  work,  I  can  support  her 
until  she  gets  married.'' 


West  Technical  Lunchroom  Used  for 
Vocational  Work 

At  West  Technical  High  School  a  group  of  about 
15  senior  girls  is  specializing  in  lunchroom  manage- 
ment, with  a  schedule  providing  25  periods  per  week 
for  lunchroom  and  15  for  academic  work.  Their 
daily  program  is  planned  in  advance  so  that  when 

82 


they  report  each  girl  knows  exactly  what  she  has  to 
do  and  whether  she  is  to  work  alone  or  with  others. 

The  girls,  under  the  direction  of  the  concession- 
naire  and  one  of  the  household  arts  teachers,  do  a 
large  part  of  the  cooking,  including  bread  and  pastry, 
take  charge  of  storerooms  and  refrigerators,  receive 
and  issue  suppUes,  oversee  the  arrangement  of  lunch- 
room and  counters,  and  take  charge  there  during  the 
noon  hour.  In  addition  to  the  girls,  two  women  on 
full  time  are  regularly  employed  to  prepare  vegeta- 
bles, keep  the  kitchen  in  order,  and  do  other  odd 
jobs  while  several  of  the  boys  wash  the  dishes,  wait 
at  counter,  and  act  as  cashiers. 

Throughout  the  year  the  main  emphasis  is  on 
cookery,  and  girls  gain  skill  and  reUabiUty  in  food 
preparation;  but  since  they  have  no  direct  part  in 
buying  supplies,  planning  menus,  arranging  the  work- 
ing program,  nor  handling  accounts,  they  do  not 
acquire  a  sense  of  responsibihty  for  the  conduct  of 
the  work  as  a  whole.  They  do  whatever  specific  tasks 
are  assigned  and  do  them  well,  although  in  a  leisurely 
manner;  for  nowhere  are  they  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  their  time  is  worth  money,  and  that  in  any 
commercial  lunchroom  they  would  be  expected  to 
turn  out  not  only  as  good  a  product  as  is  required  of 
them  at  school,  but  also  a  much  greater  output. 

Practical  suggestions  for  developing  and  strength- 
ening this  course  might  be  obtained  from  a  study  of 
high  school  lunchrooms  in  Los  Angeles,  in  Gary,  or 
in  other  cities  where  students  are  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  conduct  of  their  school  lunch  service. 

83 


In  Los  Angeles  the  lunchrooms  are  controlled  by  the 
student  body  and  they  employ  whatever  assistants 
are  necessary.  They  appoint  a  committee  with  full 
authority  to  direct  the  service  for  one  month,  to  buy 
necessary  supplies,  to  receive  and  disburse  funds,  and 
to  do  the  accounting.  These  monthly  committees 
vie  with  one  another  in  an  effort  to  give  maximum 
satisfaction  at  minimum  cost,  and  since  ^^  getting  in 
a  hole''  is  an  intolerable  disgrace,  finances  are  kept 
in  healthy  condition. 

Gary  has  a  different  plan.  There  lunchrooms  are 
under  the  direction  of  the  household  arts  depart- 
ments of  the  schools  and  are  used  by  them  for  labor- 
atory purposes.  Girls  have  an  active  and  responsible 
share  in  buying  supplies  and  in  planning,  preparing, 
and  serving  meals.  Outside  help  is  employed  to  pre- 
pare vegetables,  wash  dishes,  and  clean  kitchens  and 
storerooms.  Keeping  the  lunchroom  accounts  is  one 
of  the  practical  bookkeeping  problems  which  is  han- 
dled by  the  students  themselves.  Los  Angeles  and 
Gary  differ  from  each  other  and  Cleveland,  but,  to  a 
noteworthy  degree,  they  succeed  in  doing  something 
that  Cleveland  does  not  do.  They  put  upon  students 
responsibility  for  lunch  service  as  a  whole,  while 
Cleveland,  with  her  present  course,  only  trains  girls 
to  be  good  cooks. 

A  successful  lunchroom  director  must  be  something 
more  than  a  good  cook.  Lunchroom  management, 
whether  in  school  or  out,  is  a  business,  a  science,  and 
an  art.  The  science  is  being  well  taught,  but  of  the 
business  and  of  the  art  of  running  a  lunchroom  girls 

84 


are  almost  as  ignorant  at  the  end  of  the  year  as  at 
the  beginning.  This  is  a  fundamental  weakness.  The 
lunchroom  training  falls  short  of  reaching  its  highest 
value  because  supervisors  neglect  or  overlook  these 
two  essential  factors. 


Trade  Work  in  Foods  and  SA^^TATI0N 

At  the  East  Technical  High  School  the  work  for 
junior  and  senior  girls  who  specialize  in  foods  and 
sanitation  is  trade  cooking  and  each  year  about  15 
take  it.  They  spend  five  periods  a  day  in  classroom 
work  in  addition  to  whatever  catering  they  do  out- 
side. 

When  they  enter  the  class,  girls  have  had  two 
years  regular  work  in  the  department  and  they  are 
expected  to  use  recipes  intelligently  and  to  assume 
responsibility  for  final  products.  There  is  no  uni- 
formity of  plan;  the  work  is  varied.  One  day  the 
entire  class  is  busy  on  a  school  *^ spread;^'  another, 
two  or  three  girls  fill  personal  or  class  orders  for  cake, 
candy,  or  salad,  while  the  rest  of  the  class  make  sand- 
wiches for  some  bridge  party. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  valuable  features 
of  the  course  is  the  accounting.  Supplies  for  this  are 
not  included  in  the  regular  food  supply  budget  for 
other  classes.  At  stated  times  girls  hand  in  their 
advance  supply  orders  with  estimated  costs,  and  in- 
dividual members  take  turns  in  going  to  market  and 
keeping  the  accounts.  Each  girl  checks  up  the  actual 
cost  of  her  product  and  files  with  it  a  detailed  memo- 

85 


randum  of  supplies  used.  At  regular  intervals  what- 
ever profits  are  on  hand  are  distributed  among  the 
class.  During  the  year  they  may  make  $30  to  $40 
apiece  in  this  way  and  a  few  earn  another  $30  by 
work  done  outside  of  school  such  as  serving  at  dinner 
parties  or  taking  charge  of  small  private  dinners,  and 
one  or  two  have  regular  customers  for  whom  they 
get  dinner  when  the  maid  goes  out. 

The  class  is  popular.  There  are  always  more  appli- 
cants than  can  be  accommodated  with  the  present 
equipment,  and  girls  who  enter  do  good  work  and 
progress,  but  there  do  not  seem  to  be  positions  into 
which  they  can  go  when  they  finish  the  course.  So 
far  as  a  specific  technique  is  concerned,  this  course 
equips  girls  for  work,  but  other  complicating  and 
equally  potent  factors  enter  into  the  situation.  Par- 
ents and  teachers  agree  in  wanting  jobs  to  be  socially 
desirable.  For  example,  the  week  before  commence- 
ment it  is  highly  laudable  for  a  girl  to  serve  as  wait- 
ress at  a  private  dinner  party;  for  her  to  do  the  same 
thing  the  week  after  commencement  frequently  en- 
tails a  considerable  loss  of  social  prestige.  Moreover, 
girls  are  not  so  free  as  boys  to  follow  where  work 
leads.  This  past  summer  there  were  a  number  of 
excellent  positions  open  which  the  school  did  not 
attempt  to  fill  because  they  were  out  of  town.  Fi- 
nally, the  majority  of  positions  which  call  for  skill 
in  food  selection,  preparation,  and  care,  call  also  for 
a  degree  of  maturity  which  18-year-old  girls  do  not 
possess.  In  consequence  employers  are  unwilling  to 
trust  them  with  responsible  positions,  no  matter  how 

86 


good  cooks  they  are.  For  these  reasons  among  others, 
the  writer  considers  that,  strictly  speaking,  this 
course  is  not  vocational.  Moreover,  if  the  situation 
has  been  correctly  analyzed,  changes  in  the  course 
will  not  affect  these  conditions  which  have  their  roots 
deep  in  economic  organizations  and  concomitant 
social  prejudices. 

Although  the  course  does  not  serve  the  purpose 
intended,  it  has  a  very  real  cultural  value,  and  per- 
haps illustrates  better  than  any  other,  modern  meth- 
ods of  teaching  which  are  gaining  favor  in  current 
educational  thought.  Girls  in  this  class,  more  than 
in  most  other  classes,  begin  to  find  themselves  and 
to  assume  responsibility.  The  writer  would  advocate 
this  type  of  teaching  throughout  the  four  years,  and 
certainly  its  extension  to  include  all  regular  fourth 
year  students,  for  in  her  judgment  the  teaching 
method  in  this  course  in  trade  work  in  foods  and 
sanitation  represents  the  city's  best  teaching  in 
household  arts. 


Courses  of  Study  in  Academic  High  Schools 

A  two  year  course  in  household  arts  is  being  given 
this  year  for  the  first  time  in  the  six  academic  high 
schools  and  reaches  345  girls.  This  is  primarily  for 
first  and  second  year  girls,  but  junior  or  senior  girls 
may  elect  the  work.  Next  year,  the  second  year  of 
the  course  will  have  begun  and  the  number  of  girls 
will  probably  increase.  Seventy-two  periods  of  45 
minutes  are  allotted  each  of  the  two  years  to  foods 

87 


and  sanitation  and  to  clothing  and  textiles,  including 
millinery. 

While  the  Survey  was  in  progress,  the  Board  of 
Education  authorized  household  arts  in  these  schools 
and  appropriated  funds  to  cover  cost  of  structural 
changes  and  equipment.  Later  several  well  trained 
elementary  teachers  of  household  arts  were  appointed 
to  these  positions.  In  July  the  director's  office  had 
arranged  for  necessary  structural  changes  in  the  class- 
rooms and  was  buying  equipment.  But  in  August  no 
information  regarding  this  new  course  could  be  ob- 
tained from  the  superintendent's  office  beyond  the 
fact  that  such  a  course  was  to  be  started  when  school 
opened  and  that  classrooms  would  be  ready.  This 
subject  was  to  occupy  about  one-sixth  of  the  girls' 
time  for  two  years. 

So  far  as  the  writer  can  ascertain,  household  arts 
was  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Education  as  a  result 
of  a  general  unanalyzed  feeling  that  since  Cleveland  is 
a  city  of  homes,  and  girls  are  home-makers,  household 
arts  would  teach  them  to  be  good  home-makers. 
Money  was  appropriated  to  defray  all  necessary  ex- 
penses, but  apparently  no  poUcy  was  outlined  regard- 
ing the  nature  and  scope  of  this  work;  its  specific 
contribution  to  the  education  of  girls  was  not  defined, 
and  methods  for  achieving  the  desired  result  were 
left  to  chance. 

The  general  aim  is  'Ho  develop  a  good  mental  and 
moral  attitude  and  by  connecting  the  work  with  out- 
side interests  to  make  the  pupils  better  citizens 
whether  as  wage-earners  or  home-makers."     The 

88 


tentative  course  now  being  given  covers  topics  such 
as: 

Foods  and  nutrition 

Sanitation 

Preparing  and  serving  of  foods 

Home  nursing  and  care  of  infants 

Expenditure  of  income 

Laundry  work 

House  planning 

Household  furnishing 

Household  decorations 

Sewing 

Millinery 


Teaching  Body 

The  high  school  force  in  household  arts  numbers  26. 
Twelve  of  them, — six  in  foods  and  sanitation  and  six 
in  clothing  and  textiles — are  at  East  Technical  High 
School,  seven  more  at  West  Technical  High  School, — 
three  in  clothing  and  four  in  foods, — and  the  remain- 
ing seven  are  in  charge  of  foods  and  sanitation  and 
clothing  in  the  academic  high  schools.  These  teach- 
ers have  in  a  noticeable  degree  the  ability  to  make 
their  classrooms  pleasant  places  in  which  to  linger. 
Girls  are  having  a  good  time  working  and  the  rela- 
tionship between  teachers  and  students  is  one  of 
mutual  friendliness. 

In  preparation  for  their  work  teachers  vary  widely 
among  themselves.  All  have  had  the  equivalent  of 
a  normal  school  course  in  household  arts  and  10  are 
college  graduates.  As  a  group  they  are  better  paid, 
better  trained,  and  more  progressive  than  elementary 

89 


teachers  of  household  arts  from  whose  ranks  many 
of  them  have  been  promoted.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
comparison  between  high  school  teachers  of  house- 
hold arts,  as  the  writer  has  come  in  contact  with  them 
in  Cleveland  and  elsewhere,  and  teachers  of  other 
high  school  subjects,  such  as  Uterature,  history,  lan- 
guages, or  mathematics,  is  not  favorable  to  house- 
hold arts. 

In  city  high  schools  teachers  of  academic  subjects 
are  increasingly  required  to  have  at  least  one  aca- 
demic degree,  and  in  a  number  competition  and  prac- 
tice are  forcing  them  to  have  more  than  one.  This 
means  that  teachers  in  those  subjects  have  in  general 
a  broad  background  behind  their  specific  equipment 
which,  as  a  class,  teachers  of  household  arts  lack, 
and  this  is  true  even  of  those  who  are  college  gradu- 
ates. As  a  group  they  are  highly  trained  in  the  tech- 
nology of  their  subject,  but  their  major  attention, 
whether  at  college  or  normal  school,  has  been  focused 
on  the  details  of  household  processes  without  suffi- 
cient provision  for  socializing  courses  to  offset  this 
limited  horizon.  They  are,  however,  as  well  paid  as 
teachers  of  the  academic  subjects  who  have  had 
broader,  and  often  longer  preparation  for  their  work. 
In  Cleveland  their  salary  scale  progresses  in  18  years 
from  $1,000  to  $2,000. 

The  Cleveland  teachers  are  distinguished  by  their 
enthusiastic  faith  in  household  arts  as  being  of  vital 
importance  in  the  education  of  every  girl.  They  think 
of  their  subject  as  one  which  is  not  only  expanding 
rapidly,  but  is  also  markedly  increasing  in  public 

90 


favor.  They  want  to  keep  abreast  with  it  and  sacri- 
fice their  vacations  for  summer  school  work,  but  they 
do  not  go  afield  and  are  almost  never  found  in  courses 
in  sociology,  economics,  or  social  and  industrial  his- 
tory. The  courses  they  choose  are  in  their  owti  spe- 
cialty and  most  frequently  are  those  which  deal  with 
highly  technical  phases  of  it. 

In  the  writer's  opinion  it  is  in  this  uncritical  en- 
thusiasm that  their  greatest  weakness  Ues.  As  is  the 
case  with  elementary  teachers,  and  in  fact  with  the 
majority  of  teachers  whether  elementary  or  second- 
ary regardless  of  subject,  their  sense  of  proportion  is 
undeveloped.  They  are  in  danger  of  putting  the 
emphasis  in  the  wrong  place.  They  seem  to  think 
of  their  subject,  not  as  one  of  many  which  contributes 
to  the  education  of  the  girl,  but  as  an  end  in  itself 
into  which  girls  must  be  fitted.  In  this  respect 
school  and  society  are  as  much  at  fault  as  individual 
teachers. 

Present  Plan  Unsatisfactory 
This  is  an  unsatisfactory  study.  Through  four  inter- 
rogatory months  the  writer  traveled,  watching  and 
questioning,  from  school  to  school  all  over  the  city. 
There  were  many  activities  to  note  by  the  way;  they 
were  interesting,  efficiently  conducted,  and  appar- 
ently satisfying  to  all  who  participated.  Probing  a 
little  below  the  surface,  however,  seemed  to  indicate 
that  these  activities  existed  as  things  in  themselves 
without  fundamental  relation  to  some  coromon 
standard.    There  was  no  one  person  whose  business  it 

91 


was  to  be  occupied  with  high  school  courses  in  house- 
hold arts,  and  their  relation  to  the  education  of  the 
girl  as  a  complete  person.  No  one  seemed  to  be  ques- 
tioning, with  grim  determination  to  get  to  the  roots 
of  the  situation,  where  in  the  education  of  girls 
modern  practice  is  based  on  formulated  knowledge 
and  where  on  feeling. 

Principals  have  very  different  but  very  tenacious 
ideas  regarding  what  is  ^^good  for  girls''  and  at  pres- 
ent it  is  they,  acting  as  individuals,  who  determine 
what  kind  of  household  arts  shall  be  taught.  Prin- 
cipals of  the  academic  high  schools  made  such  a 
decision  in  September  and  several  admitted  with 
varying  degrees  of  frankness  that  they  knew  little 
about  suitable  material  for  the  proposed  course.  They 
seemed,  to  the  writer,  to  be  as  unwilling  to  trust  the 
making  of  courses  to  teachers  recently  assigned  to 
high  school  positions,  as  to  yield  any  of  their  jealously 
preserved  authority  to  members  of  the  superinten- 
dent's office. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  situation,  work  was  car- 
ried forward  on  the  material  equipment  for  the  new 
classes  in  the  academic  high  schools  without  any 
decisions  having  been  reached  as  to  the  nature  or 
definite  purpose  of  the  proposed  courses  and  without 
any  one  being  made  responsible  for  formulating  them, 
or  even  thinking  about  them.  Finally,  just  before 
schools  opened,  the  supervisor  of  the  work  in  the 
elementary  schools  was  asked  to  suggest  what  the 
courses  ought  to  include.  She  was  also  asked  to 
oversee  the  work  temporarily  although  she  was  not 

92 


placed  in  responsible  authority  over  it.  The  best 
results  are  not  to  be  secured  by  such  loose  adminis- 
trative methods  as  these.  Authority  and  respon- 
sibility must  be  definitely  located  in  some  person  or 
persons.  In  this  case  no  one  of  the  persons  concerned 
neglected  his  or  her  work;  on  the  contrary,  all  were 
extremely  interested  and  painstaking.  The  diffi- 
culty seems  to  lie  deeper  and  elsewhere. 

Cleveland  means  well  by  its  girls,  but  it  seems  to 
depend,  for  the  solution  of  problems  peculiar  to  their 
education,  on  tradition  and  generalized  good  inten- 
tions, rather  than  on  trained  intelligence.  Appar- 
ently, as  is  the  case  with  most  cities,  Cleveland  has 
not  believed  that  ^^  activity  without  insight  is  an 
evil,''  and  that  insight  is  of  necessity  based  upon 
factors  other  than  general  assumptions  and  pains- 
taking endeavor.  Insight,  in  this  sense  of  social 
vision,  is  not  a  matter  of  chance,  but  a  result  of  criti- 
cal examination  of  existing  conditions;  of  weighing 
and  balancing  one  against  another;  and  of  a  patient, 
persistent,  painstaking,  passionate  determination,  re- 
gardless of  personal  bias  or  social  prejudice,  to  evalu- 
ate evidence  on  its  own  merits. 

Cleveland,  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  has  yet  to 
realize  that,  in  the  education  of  girls,  as  of  boys, 
activity  without  social  vision  is  an  evil  too  costly  to 
be  borne.  This  city  has  yet  to  delegate  to  some  one 
person  or  group  of  persons,  as  their  most  important 
responsibility,  the  task  of  grappling  with  the  highly 
complex  congeries  of  problems  involved  in  the  gen- 
eral and  vocational  education  of  girls. 

93 


To  bring  order  out  of  the  existing  educational 
chaos  will  require  the  best  intelligence  of  the  wisest 
leaders.  The  work  itself  must  be  directed  by  a  per- 
son equipped  not  only  with  the  specific  technique  of 
household  arts,  but  also  with  wide  experience  and 
ripened  judgment.  Until  Cleveland  formulates  a 
conscious  and  deliberate  policy  regarding  the  educa- 
tion of  its  girls,  and  provides  for  adequate  supervision 
to  insure  its  development  and  fulfillment,  household 
arts,  or  any  other  kindred  subject,  in  the  writer ^s 
judgment,  will  continue  to  be  unsatisfactory. 


Summary 

1.  Field  work  for  the  report  on  household  arts  in 
secondary  schools  was  done  while  the  Survey  was  in 
progress.  The  writer  visited  both  East  and  West 
Technical  High  Schools.  Principals  and  teachers  put 
at  her  disposal  all  printed  material,  such  as  school 
announcements  or  courses  of  study  they  had,  and 
supplemented  it  by  valuable  comments  and  sugges- 
tions relating  to  problems  involved  in  the  education 
of  girls. 

2.  Generous  space  is  allotted  to  household  arts. 
Classes  vary  from  15  to  30  girls  and  average  about 
24.  Equipment  is  excellent  and  kept  in  good  repair. 
Costs  of  equipment  and  maintenance  cannot  be 
given  as  they  are  included  in  funds  set  aside  for  in- 
dividual buildings. 

3.  General  topics  considered  at  academic  and 
technical  schools  are  alike,  but  the  latter  schools  go 

94 


into  greater  detail  and  make  a  conscious  effort  to 
correlate  each  yearns  work  with  academic  subjects. 
The  two  technical  high  schools  house  22  per  cent  of 
all  high  school  girls. 

4.  Teaching  in  the  technical  high  schools  follows 
the  so-called  laboratory  method.  Girls  are  required 
to  keep  notebooks  in  which  they  record  work  as 
they  might  a  laboratory  experiment  in  chemistry. 

5.  The  Cleveland  technical  high  schools  have  as 
their  immediate  end  ^Ho  prepare  youths  of  both 
sexes  for  a  definite  vocation  and  for  efficient  indus- 
trial citizenship.^'  This  study  seems  to  indicate  that 
these  schools  do  not  give  girls  the  kind  of  education 
that  fits  them  for  jobs  open  to  them  when  they  leave 
school. 

5.  At  West  Technical  High  School  about  15  senior 
students  take  major  courses  in  lunchroom  manage- 
ment. They  do  a  large  share  of  the  work  of  the  lunch- 
room, but  they  do  not  acquire  a  sense  of  responsibihty 
for  the  conduct  of  the  work  as  a  whole.  This  course 
teaches  well  the  science,  but  neglects  the  business 
and  art  of  lunchroom  management.  A  study  of 
high  school  lunchrooms  where  students  are  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  conduct  of  their  lunch 
service,  as  in  Los  Angeles  or  Gary,  should  furnish 
valuable  practical  suggestions  for  developing  and 
strengthening  the  course. 

6.  At  East  Technical  High  School  senior  girls  who 
specialize  in  foods  and  sanitation  take  trade  order 
work  in  that  subject.  The  class  is  popular.  There 
are  always  more  applicants  than  can  be  accommo- 

95 


dated,  and  girls  who  enter  do  good  work  and  prog- 
ress, but  available  positions  are  not  considered  so- 
cially desirable  by  parents  and  teachers,  or  else  they 
call,  in  addition  to  specific  technique,  for  maturity 
which  18-year-old  girls  do  not  possess. 

Although  the  course  does  not  serve  the  purpose 
intended,  it  has  a  very  real  cultural  value.  The 
writer  would  advocate  this  type  of  teaching  through- 
out the  four  years,  and  certainly  its  extension  to  in- 
clude all  regular  fourth  year  students,  for  in  her 
judgment,  trade  work  in  foods  and  sanitation  repre- 
sents the  city's  best  teaching  in  household  arts. 

7.  In  September,  1915,  a  two  years^  course  in 
household  arts  was  organized  for  third  and  fourth 
year  girls  in  the  six  academic  schools.  About  one- 
sixth  of  the  girl's  school  time  for  two  years  is  allotted 
to  this  subject.  Money  was  appropriated  to  defray 
necessary  expenses,  but  apparently  no  poUcy  was 
outUned  regarding  the  nature  and  scope  of  this  work. 

8.  Junior  high  schools  were  opened  a  Uttle  later, 
in  the  fall  of  1915,  and  those  girls  also  are  obUged  to 
study  household  arts.  This  course  is  planned  after 
that  given  in  the  elementary  schools,  but  will  prob- 
ably expand  in  the  future. 

9.  The  high  school  force  in  household  arts  num- 
bers 26.  In  preparation  for  their  work  teachers  vary 
widely  among  themselves.  They  are  as  well  paid  as 
teachers  of  the  academic  subjects.  In  Cleveland  their 
salary  scale  progresses  in  18  years  from  $1,000  to 
$2,000.  Teachers  are  distinguished  by  their  faith  in 
household  arts  and  their  eagerness  to  make  sacri- 

96 


fices  for  it.  Emphasis  should  be  laid  upon  the  neces- 
sity for  broader  cultural  background  and  more 
active  staff  discussion  of  the  wider  problems  con- 
cerning the  education  of  girls. 

10.  At  present  there  is  no  satisfactory^  form  of 
supervision  for  household  arts  teaching  in  Cleve- 
land's secondary  schools.  This  city  has  yet  to  dele- 
gate to  some  one  person  or  group  of  persons,  as  their 
most  important  responsibility  the  task  of  grappling 
with  the  highly  complex  congeries  of  problems  in- 
volved in  the  general  and  vocational  education  of 
girls. 


97 


CHAPTER  V 

RELATION  OF  HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  TO 
SECONDARY  EDUCATION 

Household  arts  justifies  its  right  to  a  place  in  the 
curriculum  in  so  far  as  it  contributes  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  purposes  of  secondary  educa- 
tion. Important  aims  of  secondary  education  are  the 
promotion  of  economic  independence,  the  under- 
standing of  social  institutions  and  their  relative 
values  in  life,  and  the  development  of  individual 
personality. 

Education  for  Self  Support 

As  yet  the  majority  of  women  are  not  wage  earners, 
but  in  every  age  an  overwhelming  number  have  been 
self  supporting  in  a  very  real  sense  and  in  the  process 
of  earning  their  living  have  contributed  to  economic 
and  social  surplus  in  the  added  value  goods  gained 
through  their  labors.  The  majority  always  will  be 
self  supporting  in  that  sense,  but  the  industrial  revo- 
lution, here  as  elsewhere,  has  made  fundamental 
changes  in  the  form  their  economic  activities  take 
and  the  conditions  under  which  these  activities 
must  be  conducted. 

98 


More  and  more,  women  are  having  to  earn  a  living 
outside  the  household.  In  the  past  household  arts 
contributed  mainly  to  their  education  for  self  sup- 
port. A  problem  now  arising  is :  Can  household  arts 
contribute  to  their  education  for  wage  earning,  and 
in  so  doing  help  to  bridge  the  gulf  between  home  and 
market  place,  between  woman's  world  and  man's; 
a  gulf  that  must  be  bridged  if  the  transition  from 
one  to  the  other  is  to  be  made  without  too  great  loss. 
An  old  saw  tells  us  not  to  ^^swap  horses  in  the  middle 
of  the  stream/'  Women  have  come  the  far  distance 
from  primitive  culture  to  modern  civilization,  not 
on  the  back  of  a  winged  steed,  but  on  the  plodding 
old  gray  horse  of  household  work,  driven  by  the  in- 
exorable pressure  of  constant  need.  If  properly 
directed,  their  old  time  work  may  continue  to  carry 
them  safely  into  a  new  order.  To  make  the  transi- 
tion safely,  however,  some  sort  of  plan  must  be  de- 
vised which  will  enable  women  to  function  as  effec- 
tively under  the  new  system  as  under  the  old,  and 
which  will  at  the  same  time  in  return  for  their  labor 
bring  in  a  wage  to  take  the  place  of  board  and  lodging 
gained  hitherto  through  household  activities. 

For  the  first  time  on  a  large  scale,  industry,  by 
encroaching  upon  the  household  has  caused  society 
to  realize  how  manifold  were  the  processes  in  which 
individual  families  engaged  under  the  old  regime. 
Division  of  labor  has  made  possible  the  differentia- 
tion of  these  various  techniques.  Some  of  them,  such 
as  housekeeping,  cooking,  sewing,  millinery,  interior 
decorating,   nursing,   and   child   care, — apart  from 

99 


motherhood, — are  already  distinct,  while  others, 
particularly  in  the  broad  field  of  spending,  are  be- 
ginning to  emerge.  Among  the  latter  are  purchasing 
activities  of  many  sorts,  including  such  occupations 
as  shopping  for  persons  out  of  town,  and  marketing 
for  numerous  families.  Living  on  a  budget  involves 
another  specific  new  task, — and,  if  desired,  a  visiting 
housekeeper,  trained  in  accounting  will  lay  out  the 
budget,  and  plan  so  that  food,  clothing,  shelter, 
health,  recreation,  and  saving  get  their  just  and  ap- 
proximately adequate  shares  of  the  family  income. 

Household  arts  can  organize  the  material  for  each 
of  these  separate  occupations  so  that  certain  portions 
suitable  to  their  ages  and  preparation  are  open  to 
high  school  students  with  the  definite  expectation 
that  they  will  use  the  knowledge  so  gained  for  wage- 
earning  purposes  in  the  period  between  leaving  school 
and  getting  married.  Until  recently  girls  have  not 
been  wage  earners  during  this  period,  but  wherever 
the  family  was  organized  as  an  industrial  unit,  and 
in  rural  communities  where  it  still  is  so  organized, 
almost  from  babyhood  girls  have  been  self  support- 
ing. At  marriage  they  have  simply  transferred  the 
scene  of  their  labors  from  one  household  to  another. 
At  the  present  time  many  separate  economic  tech- 
niques have  gone  from  the  household;  more  are  in 
process  of  going;  and  following  them,  as  if  in  answer 
to  the  Pied  Piper^s  call,  surges  an  ever  widening 
stream  of  women  and  girls  who  from  time  immemorial 
have  had  these  techniques  in  charge. 

Wise  provision  for  activities  of  girls  during  this 

100 


interim  between  leaving  school  and  entering  homes 
of  their  own  has  become  a  serious  problem;  for  this 
period  now  occupies  for  many  women  almost  a  decade 
and  a  lifetime  for  increasing  numbers.  This  problem 
which  education  now  faces  is  becoming  particularly 
serious  in  the  busy  industrial  centers  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Ohio. 

Even  though  feasible  the  solution  of  the  problem 
does  not  lie  in  forcing  girls  out  of  industry  into  early 
marriage,  for  the  cause  of  postponed  marriage  is 
economic  inabiUty  rather  than  youthful  unwilling- 
ness. Wherever  work  to  any  great  extent  leaves  the 
household  there  comes  a  fundamental  change  in  the 
relations  of  husband  and  wife;  the  wife  ceases  to  be 
an  economic  asset  and  becomes  a  liability.  Under 
the  old  system  she  earned  her  hving  and  added  to  the 
family  wealth;  under  the  new,  the  most  she  can  do  is 
to  conserve  the  man's  wealth  after  he  gets  it,  so  that 
increasingly  unless  the  woman  helps  out  by  remain- 
ing at  work  a  man  cannot  nowadays  marry  until  he 
earns  enough  to  ^ ^support''  both  his  wife  and  himself. 

Through  reorganization  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  new 
economic  system,  household  arts  can  aid  in  giving 
back  to  women  much  of  the  work  they  used  to  do. 
In  this  way  it  makes  a  contribution  to  the  solution 
of  two  of  the  most  important  problems  in  the  educa- 
tion of  women.  Primarily,  it  gives  the  girl  a  wage- 
earning  technique  which  will  support  her  until  she 
marries;  and  in  addition  the  same  technique  may  be 
made  to  serve  her  in  good  stead  after  marriage  either 

101 


as  a  wage  earner  or  as  the  executive  head  of  a  house- 
hold. 

Many  girls  do  not  take  these  vocational  household 
arts  courses  in  high  school  since  they  plan  to  support 
themselves  by  some  professional  or  commercial  oc- 
cupation. On  the  basis  that  the  time  to  teach  people 
speciaUzed  skills  is  when  they  need  it  in  their  busi- 
ness, school  should  provide  a  wide  variety  of  short 
courses  in  household  arts  for  those  who,  if  later  they 
assume  household  duties  of  their  own,  wish  to  ac- 
quire added  skill  in  their  new  occupation. 


Education  for  Social  Relationships 

Boys  and  girls  alike  are  born  into  certain  social  re- 
lationships and  estabUsh  others.  In  the  course  of  his 
hfe  the  man  extends  his  field,  stands  out  in  the  open, 
as  it  were,  and  becomes  known  to  himself  and  others 
as  a  person  and  an  individual.  The  woman,  however, 
who  climbs  out  of  the  neutralizing  background  of 
family  relationship  is  rare.  For  the  boy,  successful 
Uving  necessitates  a  steady  progress  from  boyhood 
to  manhood;  but  for  the  girl  it  involves  an  unbroken 
passage  from  girlhood  into  wifehood  and  motherhood. 
From  the  cradle,  society  prepares  girls  for  the  great 
event  of  their  Hves, — marriage.  School  and  college 
have  constantly  to  face  the  charge  that  they  are  not 
'^educating  girls  to  be  good  wives  and  mothers.'' 
There  is,  however,  no  such  apprehension  concerning 
boys  and  their  j&tness  to  become  husbands  and 
fathers — ^in  their  case,  society  makes  an  imperious 

102 


demand  that  the  school  educate  them  for  economic 
Ufe. 

One  is  educated  for  marriage;  the  other  for  in- 
dustry. There  seems  to  be  a  wide  divergence  in 
method  and  a  difference  in  purpose,  but  in  reality 
there  has  always  been  one  common  factor  in  the  edu- 
cation of  both.  For  women  marriage  has  always 
meant  more  than  wifehood  or  motherhood;  marriage 
has  been  woman^s  job  and  the  institution  which  gave 
her  the  fullest  opportunity  to  function  as  an  economic 
member  of  society.  Such  being  the  case,  it  was  al- 
most inevitable  that  the  main  emphasis  in  the  girl's 
education  should  be  put  on  marriage,  and  social 
pressure  brought  to  bear  on  her  that  she  marry  at 
an  early  age.  In  such  an  economic  situation  the  un- 
married woman  was  the  only  woman  in  the  group 
with  any  chance  ever  to  become  a  ^^ social  parasite." 

Most  of  our  strong  social  institutions  had  their 
genesis  in  the  routine  of  daily  life,  and  are  capable  of 
modification  by  changes  which  occur  in  the  economic 
activities  of  the  community.  The  industrial  revolu- 
tion made  drastic  changes  in  economic  life:  it  sub- 
stituted power  machines  and  the  factory  system  for 
human  fingers  and  household  industries.  There  was 
no  escaping  the  consequences  of  this  absolute  and 
entire  overthrow  of  the  kinds  of  economy  to  which 
man  had  become  accustomed,  and  in  accord  with 
which  he  had  shaped  his  social  and  intellectual  habits 
from  the  dawn  of  history  to  less  than  200  years  ago. 
By  pressure  of  circumstances  society  has  been  forced 
to  change  its  methods  of  doing  work,  but  it  has 

103 


hardly  begun  the  more  difficult,  serious,  and  complex 
task  of  adjusting  its  social  institutions  and  habits 
of  mind  to  the  new  world  into  which  power  machines 
have  thrust  it. 

One  of  these  unforeseen  consequences  spells  tragedy 
for  women.  Not  only  is  power  machinery  taking 
more  and  more  of  their  work,  but  it  is  also  insistently 
calUng  for  the  adult  members  of  the  family,  while  the 
school  is  making  an  ever  increasing  demand  for  the 
children.  Therefore,  unless  active  measures  are 
taken  to  prevent  it,  women  who  marry  out  of  in- 
dustry eventually  must  face  idle  hands  and  homes 
barren  of  human  companionship.  This  change  af- 
fects all  women,  no  matter  what  be  their  economic 
status  or  social  position,  but  women  of  the  upper 
middle  class  were  the  first  group  to  become  aware 
of  what  was  happening.  They  early  began  to  voice 
their  discontent,  but  until  very  recently  the  only 
substitute  that  society  provided  or  allowed  for  the 
richness  and  fullness  of  their  former  condition  was 
charitable  work  of  various  kinds,  or  ^^ culture,'^  or 
social  functions, — theaters  and  teas.  The  general 
unrest  is  now  rapidly  spreading  and  reaching  down 
into  the  lives  of  women  less  fortunately  circum- 
stanced. 

When  Mr.  Ford  established  a  minimum  wage  of 
S5  per  day  for  all  adult  men  in  his  employ,  he  set 
forth  his  views  regarding  family  life,  and  his  belief 
in  home  as  the  place  for  women.  Mr.  Ford  made  his 
announcement  in  all  sincerity,  and  there  can  be  no 
question  that  the  $5  per  day  exerted  an  enormous 

104 


power  for  good  in  the  homes  of  many  working  men. 
It  also  partly  brought  about,  and  partly  made  ap- 
parent, a  condition  which  Mr.  Ford  views  \\dth  alarm. 

Within  a  short  time  after  the  $5  per  day  schedule 
went  into  effect,  houses  w^ere  better  kept  and  the 
people  in  them  better  fed  and  clothed  than  ever  be- 
fore, but  some  of  the  women  were  ambitious  and  de- 
cided that  they  could  not  only  maintain  this  stand- 
ard, but  better  it  if  they  too  went  out  to  work;  so 
they  got  jobs  in  nearby  factories.  Thereupon,  acting 
upon  his  profound  belief  that  home  is  the  place  for 
women,  Mr.  Ford's  sociological  department  allowed 
word  to  go  abroad  that  in  the  future  men  whose  wives 
worked  in  factories  would  receive  a  substantially 
smaller  sum  each  week.  When  this  economic  com- 
pulsion seemed  rather  harsh,  it  was  mitigated  by  al- 
lowing wives  to  teach  music,  but  working  in  factories 
still  had  vital  consequences  for  the  weekly  envelope. 
It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  even  this  concession  will 
long  keep  women  in  homes  from  which  housework 
and  children  of  school  age  have  gone. 

Fortunately,  the  wxiter  is  not  obliged  to  map  out 
a  program  for  the  solution  of  the  intricate  human 
problems  involved  in  preparing  married  women  for 
the  use  of  left-over  time,  but  only  to  question  whether 
household  arts  has  a  contribution  to  make.  There 
seems  to  be  at  least  one  opportunity  for  household 
arts  to  be  useful,  but  this  is  such  that  only  mature 
women  can  profit  by  it.  The  successful  running  of 
cooperative  public  enterprises  calls  for  new  tech- 
niques.   Public  bath  houses,  recreation  piers,  com- 

105 


munity  centers,  playgrounds,  school  lunch  service, 
food  and  sanitation  service  inspection,  and  the  like, 
require  skills  that  mature  women,  otherwise  capable 
of  performing  the  necessary  duties  of  such  positions, 
often  lack,  but  which  they  could  readily  acquire. 
The  school  might  properly  extend  its  activities  for 
their  benefit  and  organize  courses  to  equip  them  for 
work  now  available. 

Many  of  these  positions  have  the  further  advan- 
tage of  being  only  part  time  jobs,  so  that  women  can 
use  their  increasing  margin  of  time  to  good  advantage 
in  them  as  well  as  do  their  necessary  household  work. 
The  writer  has  had  personal  experience,  extending 
over  a  number  of  years,  with  this  kind  of  work  and 
has  found  that  married  women  do  it  admirably  and 
that  their  sense  of  responsibility  to  their  work  does 
not  impair  that  which  they  feel  towards  their  house- 
holds. 

If  the  institution  of  marriage  then  is  ceasing  to 
afford  full  time  occupation  to  women,  the  problem  of 
educating  them  for  varied  social  relations  is  present 
and  serious.  It  is  not  possible  of  simple  remedy,  and 
it  cannot  be  solved  either  by  adding  or  subtracting 
household  arts  from  the  school  program.  Instead, 
the  curriculum  should  be  critically  examined  to  in- 
sure that  education  gives  girls  as  well  as  boys  an  in- 
creasing ability  to  form  satisfying  social  relations  of 
many  kinds. 


106 


Educatioh  fob  Ixdividuax  Pebsokality 
Whether  education  shall  place  emphasis  on  indi- 
vidual initiative  or  nprm  social  subordination  Is  a 
question  which  confronts  school  and  society.  The 
answer  has  hitherto  depended  upon  whether  the 
education  of  boys  or  of  girls  was  under  conaidera- 
tion.  For  boys  the  emphasis  has  been  on  individual 
initiative;  for  girls  on  individual  subordination. 

Rich  man^  poor  maii^  beggar  man,  thief, 
Doctor^  IsLwyear,  merdiant,  chief. 

He  tells  them  over  to  find  out  which  he  will  be;  she 
to  find  out  who  he  will  be. 

Putting  aside  the  questions  of  social  justice,  or 
the  wisdom  of  emjjhasizing  two  such  contrasting 
habits  of  thought  in  persons  who  must  live  together 
with  satisfaction  to  both  if  marriage  is  to  be  success- 
ful, the  query  arises  as  to  how  this  condition  arose. 
No  single  explanation  would  l>e  satisfactory,  but  the 
economic  factor  has,  beyond  doubt,  bulked  large. 

In  the  main  men  have  had  to  earn  a  li\4ng  under 
conditions  which  called  for  individual  initiative,  and 
those  who  pulled  through  were  men  who  developed 
ability  to  go  after  what  they  wanted  when  once  they 
liad  decided  what  they  did  want.  Moreover,  as 
society  expanded  and  work  Ijecame  more  highly 
specialized,  they  were  forced,  many  times,  to  stand 
alone,  without  the  Vjacking  of  social  groups  other 
than  those  with  which  they  had  been  able  to  form 
connections.  In  consequence,  the  family  ceased  to 
be  the  supreme  factor.  The  chief  traits  that  boys  de- 

107 


veloped  first  were  those  that  made  for  success  in  the 
world  where  they  worked.  Girls  did  likewise,  but 
the  two  worlds  were  different  and  so  were  the  habits 
formed. 

Women  lived  and  worked  within  the  boundaries 
of  one  institution,  the  home,  and  were  obliged  to  con- 
form in  thought  and  deed  to  tangible  and  intangible 
standards  imposed  upon  them  by  the  conditions  of 
life  there.  They  were  expected  to  have,  and  those 
who  survived  did  develop,  the  virtues  of  self  control, 
self  sacrifice,  self  denial,  and  finally  if  they  attained, 
as  did  Griselda,  to  poets^  fancy, — selflessness.  Wo- 
men lived  in  and  through  and  by  some  form  or  other 
of  family  relationship.  Their  success  as  women  and 
wives  was  in  direct  proportion  to  the  ready  self 
effacement  of  any  individual  personality  they  might 
have  inherited  from  their  fathers.  They  were  lost  if 
separated  from  the  family  group,  not  so  much  be- 
cause of  the  laws  of  nature,  as  many  people  to  this 
day  insist,  but  more  because  of  the  effects  of  nurture, 
and  the  fact  that  the  world  outside  of  the  household 
was  man's  world  and  truly  foreign  to  them.  It  was  a 
world  in  the  making  and  running  of  which  they  had 
no  responsible  part  and  one  where  the  rules  of  the 
game  called  for  a  technique  of  thought,  word,  and 
deed,  different  from  any  that  they  had  been  obliged 
to  acquire.  In  fact  it  was  diametrically  opposed  to 
the  life  they  were  obliged  to  lead. 

Whether  we  approve  or  not  the  barrier  between  the 
two  worlds  is  fast  breaking  down,  and  women  driving 
motor  trucks  or  at  work  in  munition  factories  are 

108 


wiping  out  many  of  its  traces.  Men  and  women  now 
join  in  the  common  routine  of  daily  tasks  in  the  busi- 
ness world,  but  they  have  yet  to  establish  a  satis- 
factory human  meeting  ground.  Men  know  their 
way  about  the  work  into  which  women  have  recently 
come,  for  it  is  the  one  that  men  have  made  for  them- 
selves in  the  slow  process  of  time,  but  women  grope 
and  stumble  there.  One  great  and  present  task  for 
school  and  society  is  to  enable  women  to  pull  them- 
selves from  out  the  binding  trammels  of  tradition  that 
they  may  walk  surefooted  with  their  fellow  beings. 

This  is  a  most  difficult  undertaking.  Women  and 
home  are  bound  up  with  the  deepest  feelings  of  the 
race,  and  because  this  is  so  there  is  a  vast  deal  of 
sentimentality  about  the  matter  as  well  as  sturdy 
sentiment.  There  is  no  other  social  institution  more 
set  about  with  taboos  and  inhibitions  than  the  fam- 
ily, and  the  very  nature  of  the  girFs  relation  to  the 
home  makes  it  difficult  to  do  other  than  substitute 
feeling  for  thinking  in  considering  her  educational 
needs.  Therefore,  a  conscious  and  deliberate  effort 
has  to  be  made  to  get  a  social,  impersonal,  and  ob- 
jective view  on  the  situation. 

If  girls  are  to  stand  side  by  side  with  their  brothers 
in  the  world  outside  the  home,  they  must  become 
conscious  of  themselves  as  economic  members  of  the 
community,  not  as  transient  intruders,  but  as  people 
with  a  permanent  and  continuous  interest  in  and  con- 
nection with  manifold  economic  activities.  Further, 
they  will  need  to  understand  and  cultivate  those 
qualities  which  contribute  to  success  in  such  a  world. 

109 


Summed  up  in  briefest  form,  these  qualities  are  the 
ability  to  regard  a  subject  objectively  and  imper- 
sonally, and  put  it  in  its  proper  social  setting.  Girls 
need  to  realize  that  success  depends  upon  accomplish- 
ment, not  upon  good  intentions;  and  that  to  a  large 
degree  it  is  achieved  through  purposeful  activity. 

Above  and  beyond  all,  girls  should  be  educated  to 
crave  for  and  strive  after  intellectual  honesty,  that 
is,  the  habit  of  telling  themselves  the  truth  about 
all  things  and  people,  themselves  included.  This  is 
a  painful  process,  but  truly  exhilarating,  for  in 
some  queer,  miraculous  fashion  limitations  faced 
cease  to  be  limitations.  Proudly  borne  these  limita- 
tions may  even  blossom  forth  as  assets,  and  in  any 
case  they  permit  one,  knowing  the  worst,  to  accept 
it  and  turn  thought  and  effort  to  other  and  more 
fruitful  uses.  Finally,  if  the  girls  are  to  be  good  citi- 
zens in  this  new  world  they  should  learn  to  pay  in  full 
measure  for  what  they  get,  to  be  above  accepting 
what  they  have  not  earned.  To  borrow  their  brother's 
phraseology,  they  must  learn  to  ^^play  the  game.'' 

In  the  presence  of  such  a  problem  household  arts 
becomes  but  one  of  many  factors,  all  of  which  should 
be  organized  to  the  conscious  and  deliberate  end  that 
through  education  girls  as  well  as  boys  may  gain 
the  ability  to  substitute  self  control  for  home  control. 


Moral  Equivalents  for  Home 

Home  has  been  one  of  the  dynamic  factors  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  was  the  place  where  people  of  different  kinds 

110 


and  ages,  both  sexes  and  different  interests,  held  to- 
gether by  kinship  and  the  common  necessity  of  earn- 
ing a  living,  first  came  to  have  an  affectionate  knowl- 
edge of  each  other,  and  tolerance  of  others,  and 
eventually  to  work  out  a  method  of  living,  working, 
and  playing  together  that  came  to  be  both  harmoni- 
ous and  efficient.  Lessons  learned  at  home  were  not 
taken  from  a  course  of  study  designed  to  discipline 
students^  minds,  but  were  real  problems  imposed 
upon  individuals  by  group  necessities,  and  the  pen- 
alty for  not  solving  them  was  rarely  postponed  and 
was  paid  by  the  family  as  well  as  the  individual  di- 
rectly responsible.  The  shifting  of  work  from  home 
to  factory  gave  a  death  blow  to  the  importance  of 
many  subjects  in  the  home  curriculum.  It  also  made 
apparent  for  the  first  time  how  undifferentiated  this 
course  of  study  had  been. 

The  business  of  even  an  average  household  in  that 
older  time  was  so  intricate  and  many-sided  that  from 
dawn  to  dusk  children  and  grown-ups  were  kept  busy 
with  tasks  suited,  in  the  main,  to  their  various  tastes 
and  abilities.  In  addition  work  was  done  in  a  fa- 
mihar  place  in  company  with  members  of  one's  own 
family  and  was  so  organized  that  there  was  time  for 
rest  and  recreation  for  all  members  of  the  household 
at  odd  moments  throughout  the  day.  This  meant 
that  under  the  old  regime  people  could  lead  approxi- 
mately full  and  rounded  lives  within  household 
boundaries,  for  work  and  rest  and  play  were  all  pro- 
vided for  within  the  system.  Such  is  no  longer  the 
case. 

Ill 


The  world  outside  the  household  now  affords  as 
great,  if  not  greater,  opportunities  for  full  and 
rounded  living.  To  live  fully  and  freely  in  the  out- 
side world,  however,  necessitates  kinds  of  education, 
social  adjustment,  and  individual  self  consciousness 
not  required  by  the  undifferentiated  manner  of  life 
when  each  family  was  much  more  nearly  a  self  suffi- 
cient economic  unit.  Work  in  office  and  factory  now 
takes  from  the  heart  of  the  day  solid  blocks  of  time 
once  given  over  to  a  wide  range  of  household  activi- 
ties. Moreover,  as  great  fields  of  work  and  numbers 
of  people  were  lost  to  the  household,  the  necessity  of 
adequately  providing  for  play  activities  becomes 
more  apparent  and  serious.  Gradually  recreation 
outside  the  household,  whether  intellectual,  emo- 
tional, or  esthetic,  came  to  occupy  time  after  working 
hours,  and  on  holidays  and  Sundays.  The  enormous 
popularity  of  '^commerciaUzed''  recreations  of  an 
onlooking  type  suggests  that  at  present  the  majority 
of  people  in  cities  are  either  too  tired  when  night 
comes  or  too  untrained  to  initiate  pleasant  ways  of 
spending  leisure  time.  Society  is  realizing  this  de- 
ficiency and  beginning  to  take  measures  to  over- 
come it,  as  witness  the  wider  use  of  the  school  plant, 
public  recreation  parks  and  piers,  and  community 
centers  standing  side  by  side  with  commercialized 
recreation. 

The  most  important  element  of  home  is  the  feeling 
atmosphere  engendered  by  people  working  or  pla3dng 
together  with  harmonious  and  efficient  unity  of  pur- 
pose.  Hitherto  in  our  thinking  this  feeUng  has  been 

112 


associated  with  the  family  group  at  work  within  the 
confines  of  the  house;  we  have  yet  consciously  to 
realize  that  it  is  this  feeling  atmosphere  which  is  the 
vital  and  dynamic  thing,  not  the  house  which  once 
confined  it.  Household  organization  has  changed  and 
single  groups  cannot  long  continue  to  provide  it 
unaided,  for  it  is  a  hving  atmosphere  which  people 
make  wherever  and  whenever  they  establish  satis- 
factory human  relationship,  whether  those  relation- 
ships be  within  or  without  their  immediate  famiUes. 
To  keep  women  in  houses  now  largely  void  of  lifers 
realities  is  to  defeat  the  very  purpose  of  those  who  are 
most  insistent  on  home  as  the  place  for  women. 
Home  is  the  place  for  women,  and  men  and  children 
Ukewise,  but  it  is  not  confined  to  any  one  particular 
place  set  off  by  a  gatepost  or  chimney  corner.  Wo- 
men have  always  contributed  largely  to  the  creation 
of  the  home  feeling,  and  will  continue  to  contribute 
in  proportion  as  they  realize  that  life  is  flowing 
through  new  channels  different  from  any  before, 
and  that  it  is  life  that  matters,  not  the  frame  which 
once  held  it,  nor  future  forms  which  it  may  take. 
Women  have  already  begun  to  learn  this  truth. 
People  who  temper  the  wind  to  shorn  families  are 
many  of  them  women.  They  are  called  visiting 
nurses,  visiting  housekeepers,  and  social  workers, 
but  they  are  just  women  doing  what  women  have 
done  from  time  immemorial,  trying  to  make  others 
comfortable.  Household  arts  will  become  a  social 
science  when  it  provides  for  these  women,  striving  to 
carry  on  their  ancient  tasks,  techniques  developed 
8  113 


for  the  purpose  of  serving  human  needs  of  people 
Uving  together  in  society. 


Summary 

1.  Household  arts  justifies  its  place  in  the  curric- 
ulum in  so  far  as  it  contributes  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  purposes  of  secondary  education.  Im- 
portant ones  among  them  are  the  promotion  of  eco- 
nomic independence,  an  understanding  of  social  in- 
stitutions, and  the  development  of  individual  per- 
sonaUty. 

2.  The  majority  of  women  are  not  wage-earners, 
but  an  overwhelming  number  have  always  been  self- 
supporting.  The  majority  always  will  be  self-sup- 
porting, but  under  modern  conditions  their  economic 
activities  take  on  new  forms. 

3.  Household  arts  has  always  contributed  to  edu- 
cation for  self-support.  It  can  now  contribute  to 
education  for  wage-earning. 

4.  Many  girls  do  not  take  these  vocational  courses 
in  household  arts.  The  school  should  provide  short 
courses  in  household  arts  for  those  who  at  some  later 
time  may  wish  such  instruction. 

5.  Marriage  has  always  been  a  full-time  job  for 
women.  Much  of  the  married  woman^s  work  has 
left  the  household  and  new  work  is  not  taking  its 
place.  Household  arts  can  help  her  to  use  her  free 
time  to  good  advantage  in  part-time  community 
work. 

6.  Women   have   lived   and   worked  within   the 

114 


boundaries  of  one  institution,  the  home.  The  bar- 
riers between  the  world  within  and  the  world  with- 
out her  home  are  breaking  down.  Education  for 
girls  as  for  boys  should  emphasize  self  control  rather 
than  home  control.  Household  arts  is  but  one  of 
many  contributing  factors  to  such  an  end. 

7.  To  keep  women  in  homes  prevents  their  getting 
the  wider  social  contacts  which  they  need  in  the 
modem  world.  As  \'isiting  nurses,  \isiting  house- 
keepers, and  social  workers  generally  they  get  an 
understanding  of  these  broader  social  relationships. 
Household  arts  can  help  develop  the  required  skills. 


115 


CHAPTER  VI 

ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  LUNCH  SERVICE 

Food  is  a  natural  need  of  all  children.  They  cannot 
get  it  at  home  in  the  middle  of  the  morning,  for  com- 
pulsory attendance  puts  them  in  school;  and  many 
cannot  get  a  hot  meal  at  home  at  dinner  time  because 
their  mothers  are  away  at  work  in  the  factory.  The 
school  did  not  make  these  conditions,  but  it  recog- 
nizes them  and  purposes  meeting  them  through  the 
school  lunch.  At  recess  such  service  provides  lunch 
for  all  hungry  children  who  want  to  spend  their  pen- 
nies for  milk,  cocoa,  graham  crackers,  ^^  jelly  bread,'' 
a  bit  of  sweet  chocolate,  or  an  apple;  and  at  noon 
there  is  an  appetizing  meal  under  wholesome  condi- 
tions for  children  whose  elders  are  at  work. 

Such  a  division,  however,  does  a  good  deal  more 
than  feed  children.  It  offers  large  opportunity  to 
teach  them  essential  facts  about  food  and  its  uses. 
Through  the  children  this  very  practical  knowledge 
gets  back  to  the  mothers.  That  this  influence  is  of 
real  and  immediate  value  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  foreign  mothers.  They  were  admirable  man- 
agers in  the  old  country,  but  in  the  United  States 
everjrthing  is  new  and  the  language  strange,  so  that 
they  cannot  talk  to  the  people  who  could  tell  them 

116 


why  everything  here  is  so  different.  One  of  their 
great  chances  to  learn  is  through  the  children  who 
talk  at  home  about  what  they  had  to  eat  at  school, 
how  good  it  was,  and  how  much  they  got  for  a  penny. 
Italian  children  at  the  Murray  Hill  School  are  asking 
their  mothers  for  milk  and  dishes  like  those  they  get 
at  school.  Doctors  say  that  it  is  not  so  difficult  as  it 
used  to  be  to  get  people  to  take  milk  when  they  pre- 
scribe it.  In  Philadelphia,  mothers  come  to  the  lunch 
counter  asking  how  to  cook  rice  the  way  the  children 
get  it  there  and  wanting  to  buy  what  is  left  over  at 
the  end  of  the  day.  In  New  York  they  go  to  the 
school  asking  to  buy  their  lunch  too,  and  every  day 
sees  a  few  mothers  eating  lunch  with  the  children. 

ReUable  dealers  want  school  lunch  trade.  Milk- 
men take  great  pains  to  give  good  service  as  well  as 
good  milk  and  before  very  long  all  children  know  the 
name  and  brand  of  milk  served.  They  know  the 
names  and  prices  of  various  crackers,  too,  and  who 
makes  them,  and  they  ask  for  their  favorite  kinds. 
Naturally,  tastes  formed  at  school  carry  back  and 
gradually  begin  to  affect  the  daily  market  order. 

The  need  to  choose  carefully,  use  well,  and  spend 
wisely  applies  to  all  children,  girls  and  boys  aUke. 
To  a  great  extent  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  family 
will  depend  on  how  well  women  spend  the  common 
earnings.  Men,  whether  or  not  they  carry  a  dinner 
pail,  use  restaurants  and  ought  to  have  sane  stand- 
ards on  which  to  base  their  orders. 

Both  girls  and  boys  make  economic  adjustments 
long  before  they  know  the  meaning  of  the  term. 

117 


Participation  in  a  real  business  which  they  them- 
selves support  may  teach  them  to  discriminate;  to 
take  into  account  various  items  of  overhead  charge, 
raw  materials,  service,  and  interest,  which  enter  into 
the  selling  price  of  every  article  they  buy.  It  may 
give  them  a  working  knowledge  of  business  principles 
and  ethics  and  a  little  appreciation  of  the  extent  to 
which  their  success  outside  of  school  will  depend  on 
their  ability  to  use  cooperatively  the  collective  efforts 
of  others. 

A  far-sighted  lunch  department  will  try  to  bring 
about  this  condition,  in  other  words  to  become,  for 
all  its  patrons,  a  practice  school  in  spending.  So  far 
little  has  been  done  along  this  line  in  the  elementary 
schools,  but  in  certain  high  schools,  notably  those 
in  Los  Angeles,  such  a  plan  has  met  with  marked 
success. 

The  school  lunch  division  takes  thought  also  for 
the  food  needs  of  exceptional  children  as  well  as 
average  children,  and  through  food  dispensaries  can 
provide  machinery  for  their  adequate  care  at  a  mini- 
mum cost  to  the  pubUc. 


Elementary  School  Lunches  from  Two 
Points  of  View 

There  are  two  separate  and  distinct  viewpoints  with 
regard  to  elementary  school  feeding.  The  one  regards 
this  service  as  being  primarily  charitable  in  character, 
and  to  be  handled  by  the  school  on  that  basis  only. 
It  looks  upon  the  elementary  service  as  a  real  but 

118 


regrettable  necessity  imposed  upon  the  authorities  by 
the  practical  problem  of  providing  food  for  excep- 
tional children  whose  parents  are  too  poor  or  too 
ignorant  to  do  it  for  them. 

The  other  group  considers  school  feeding  essen- 
tially social  in  character,  in  that  it  recognizes  a  natu- 
ral need  of  all  children,  rich  and  poor,  well  and  under- 
nourished, aUke.  It  considers  the  service  a  proper 
function  of  the  school  because  it  utilizes  a  child's 
natural  appetite  to  teach  him  for  what  kind  of  food 
to  spend  his  money  and  how  to  apportion  it.  It  fur- 
ther reaUzes  that  in  creating  a  department  to  serve 
all  children,  the  school  has  at  hand  without  further 
expense  all  necessary  machinery  for  caring  for  the 
undernourished  child  in  whatever  way  his  special 
needs  may  demand. 

Elementary  lunch  service  in  Cleveland  is  of  the 
first  kind.  It  was  organized  six  years  ago  by  the 
Philanthropy  Committee  of  the  Women's  Federation 
of  Clubs  "to  provide  breakfasts  for  anaemic  and 
undernourished  children''  at  a  school  in  a  very  poor 
and  greatly  congested  section  of  the  city.  Today  the 
Committee's  purpose  is  the  same  as  it  was  six  years 
ago, — provision  for  the  exceptional  child.  Its  active 
interest  has  never  been  extended  to  a  consideration 
of  the  normal  child  and  his  needs,  although  to  both 
school  and  society  he  is  far  and  away  the  more  im- 
portant. 

The  school  board  is  in  a  somewhat  different  posi- 
tion. Three  years  ago  when  the  first  open  air  classes 
were  started,  it  assumed  financial  responsibility  for 

119 


lunch  for  children  in  those  classes,  and  later,  when 
special  provision  was  made  for  crippled  and  blind 
children,  it  included  them.  In  so  doing  the  Board  of 
Education  was  far  in  advance  of  most  school  boards 
which  do  not  recognize  the  necessity  on  the  part  of 
the  school  to  care  adequately  for  all  children  for 
whom  it  has  assumed  a  particular  obligation.  Plenty 
of  nourishing  food  is  an  essential  in  the  treatment  of 
open  air  and  undernourished  children.  Blind  and 
crippled  children  cannot  go  home  at  noon,  so  some 
provision  must  be  made  for  them  at  school. 

The  Board  of  Education  recognizes  and  meets  its 
obligations  with  regard  to  exceptional  children.  So 
far  it  has  not  realized  its  responsibility  towards  all 
children  nor  appreciated  the  opportunity  here  offered 
through  the  every  day  demonstration  at  the  school 
lunch  counters  to  strengthen  its  teaching  with  regard 
to  the  hygiene  of  daily  living  in  which  diet  plays  so 
important  a  part. 


Present  Situation  in  Cleveland 

In  Cleveland  there  are  12  schools  with  special  classes 
for  crippled,  blind,  or  open  air  children.  These 
classes  receive  meals  at  school.  At  noon  blind  chil- 
dren get  milk  or  cocoa;  crippled  children  get  milk  or 
cocoa,  soup,  or  meat  and  potatoes,  bread  spread  with 
jam  or  jelly,  and  fruit  or  cookies.  Open  air  children 
have  recess  lunch  both  morning  and  afternoon,  and 
those  children,  who  for  one  reason  or  another  cannot 
go  home  at  noon,  get  a  midday  meal. 

120 


o 
o 

o 


On  the  recommendation  of  principal  and  medical 
inspector,  undernourished  children  who  do  not  belong 
to  any  of  these  groups  receive  breakfast  and  one  or 
more  additional  meals  for  an  indefinite  period,  de- 
pending upon  their  physical  condition,  but  they  are 
exceptions.  These  children  pay  a  penny  apiece  for 
lunch  and  the  deficit  on  each  meal  is  made  up  by 
voluntary  contributions. 

On  December  6,  1909,  the  Philanthropy  Commit- 
tee of  the  Cleveland  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs 
began  this  work  with  just  19  children.  The  purpose, 
as  given  in  the  minutes  of  the  Committee,  was  'Ho 
provide  breakfasts  for  anaemic  and  undernourished 
children  at  Eagle  School,  with  this  proviso,  that  the 
Board  of  Education  sanction  and  cooperate  in  the 
undertaking.'' 

One  school  had  breakfasts  in  1909.  The  following 
year  service  was  extended  to  Rockwell,  and  at  the 
present  time  meals  are  provided  for  all  special  classes 
in  grade  schools,  except  at  the  deaf  school,  where  the 
children  bring  their  lunches.  The  attendance  at 
these  classes  is  65  blind,  81  crippled,  225  open  air 
children,  and  approximately  400  undernourished 
children. 

The  Board  of  Education  furnishes  and  equips 
lunchrooms  and  kitchens.  For  crippled  and  open 
air  children  the  Philanthropy  Committee  of  the 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  provides  food  and  at 
each  school  employs  a  woman  to  prepare  it.  For  the 
blind,  the  Society  for  Promoting  the  Interests  of  the 
Blind  takes  charge.    The  Committees,  in  consulta- 

121 


tion  with  principal,  medical  inspector,  and  supervisor 
of  high  school  lunches,  make  out  the  different  menus. 
The  Board  of  Education  contracts  with  these  com- 
mittees to  furnish  meals  to  exceptional  children  in 
specified  schools  at  so  much  per  child  per  day,  ac- 
cording to  the  kind  and  number  of  meals  supplied. 


School  Meals  as  Supplements  or  Substitutes 
FOR  Home  Meals 

At  first  glance  the  tangle,  presented  by  these  various 
groups  of  children  receiving  different  kinds  of  lunch, 
seems  too  complicated  for  any  one  but  a  dietitian  to 
grasp.  It  can,  however,  be  resolved  into  order  by  a 
very  simple  classification. 

These  lunches  are  of  just  two  kinds:  those  which 
supplement  a  home  meal,  and  those  which  take  the 
place  of  one.  Here  in  a  nutshell  is  the  main  feeding 
problem  which  confronts  every  school  lunch  service, 
and,  from  the  dietitian's  point  of  view,  the  final 
criterion  for  judging  the  success  or  failure  of  such  a 
department. 

Lunches  which  supplement  the  family  dietary  pre- 
sent the  simpler  feeding  problem  and  are  cheaper 
to  provide.  They  make  no  pretense  of  doing  any- 
thing more  than  give  children  a  little  wholesome  food 
when  they  want  it,  and  when  it  is  good  for  them  to 
have  it.  Three  or  four  crackers;  a  cup  of  milk,  cocoa, 
or  soup;  an  apple,  an  orange,  or  a  few  dates  answer 
every  purpose  of  this  type  of  lunch  and  satisfy  the 
children.    A  cent  or  two  will  buy  all  that  the  average 

122 


child  needs,  and  if  the  department  is  sufficiently 
large  and  well  organized  the  child's  pennies  will  pay 
the  cost  of  both  food  and  service.  Recess  lunches  in 
Cleveland  and  throughout  the  country  generally  fall 
into  this  category  of  supplemental  feeding. 

Meals  which  take  the  place  of  home  meals  present 
more  difficulties.  Here  again  are  two  kinds.  The 
first  takes  the  place  of  breakfast,  and  very  occasion- 
ally, of  a  light  luncheon.  More  and  more  in  America, 
as  in  most  foreign  households,  breakfast  is  an  unpre- 
tentious meal.  Fruit,  cereal  with  top  milk,  toast,  and 
perhaps  an  egg,  make  a  good  combination  for  the 
school  child.  When  necessary,  the  school  lunch  de- 
partment can  readily  provide  such  a  meal,  (substitut- 
ing for  the  costly  egg  an  extra  piece  of  toast,  or  more 
cereal  and  milk)  and  still  have  the  cost  fall  within 
a  three  or  five  cent  limit.  With  slight  variations  in 
the  menu,  the  same  thing  holds  true  for  the  light 
luncheon. 

The  important  problem  of  ways  and  means  is  pre- 
sented by  the  dinner.  For  many  people  noon  dinner 
is  the  main  meal  of  the  day,  and  must  furnish  not  only 
high  fuel  value,  but  also  the  greater  part  of  a  day's  re- 
quirements of  protein  and  of  inorganic  salts,  and  the 
whole  in  bulky  enough  form  to  keep  the  digestive  tract 
in  good  condition.  This  is  the  crux  of  the  situation 
and  school  lunch  departments  are  gradually  coming  to 
see  that  it  is  so,  and  to  plan  their  work  accordingly. 
Sometimes  the  service  has  to  provide  the  entire  meal, 
at  other  times  to  supplement  a  lunch  brought  from 
home,  but  either  way  the  problem  is  to  insure  the 

123 


child's  getting  a  dinner  which  measures  up  to  the 
standard  set  forth  above.  To  do  this  requires  con- 
siderable ingenuity,  careful  consideration  of  condi- 
tions as  they  exist  in  different  schools,  and  an  organi- 
zation elastic  enough  to  take  them  into  account  in 
its  planning.  Such  a  type  of  organization  is  costly. 
Only  an  experienced  dietitian  will  be  able  to  find  a 
cheap  and  palatable,  easy-to-prepare,  dietetically 
'^just  as  good''  substitute  for  bacon  and  eggs,  or 
fresh  peas  and  new  potatoes  with  porterhouse  steak. 
However,  it  can  be  done,  and  no  lower  standard  of 
achievement  should  be  accepted. 

Kinds  of  Lunches  and  by  Whom  Peovided 

Lunches  to  supplement  home  meals,  and  lunches  to 
take  the  place  of  home  meals  are  served  to  certain 
of  Cleveland's  elementary  school  children.  Food 
plays  an  important  part  in  the  treatment  of  children 
in  open  air  classes  and  is  given  to  supplement  the 
home  dietary.  These  children  receive  two  lunches  a 
day:  one  at  10  o'clock,  the  other  at  two.  They  go 
home  at  noon. 

Menus  are  alike  in  all  schools  and  the  list  from 
which  morning  and  afternoon  lunches  are  chosen  is 
the  same.  Lunch  consists  of  milk,  or  cocoa,  or  soup 
with  crackers,  or  bread  spread  with  jelly,  jam,  or 
peanut  butter.  Such  a  lunch  is  good  for  children; 
they  like  it;  and  it  measures  up  to  the  standard. 

The  minimum  fuel  value  for  the  two  meals  is  390 
calories  of  the  kind  of  food  specified  in  the  contract 
between  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Philan- 

124 


thropy  Committee.  It  costs  eight  cents  per  child 
per  day.  The  unprepared  food  material  costs  on  an 
average  not  more  than  a  cent  for  130  calories,  which 
divides  the  cost  of  meals  into  three  cents  for  food  and 
five  cents  for  service. 

Blind  children  stay  in  school  all  day,  so  provision 
must  be  made  for  their  midday  meal,  which  for  many 
is  the  main  meal  of  the  day.  The  school  provides 
soup  or  cocoa,  and  the  rest  of  their  dinner  children 
bring  from  home. 

In  its  contract  the  Board  of  Education  specifies  the 
minimum  fuel  value  (100  calories)  per  portion,  but 
it  does  not  specify  the  kind  of  hot  dish,  nor  the 
amount  of  protein  to  a  portion.  One-half  cup  of 
cocoa,  or  of  bean  soup  would  satisfy  the  contract 
as  it  now  stands.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  committee 
gives  these  children  from  200  to  250  calories  per  por- 
tion instead  of  100.  The  price  paid  by  the  Board  is 
four  cents  per  portion.  The  ingredients  used  cost 
about  three-fourths  of  a  cent  per  100  calories. 

In  point  of  fuel  value  the  food  which  these  children 
are  actually  receiving  is  probably  adequate,  or  nearly 
so.  The  hot  dish  contributes  from  200  to  250  calo- 
ries, and  their  sandwiches  and  fruit  or  cake  300  to 
400  more.  Such  a  meal,  however,  has  several  serious 
drawbacks.  It  becomes  monotonous  and  children 
lose  appetite;  further,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  always  meets 
the  other  specifications  for  a  well-balanced  midday 
meal  for  children.  These  are:  at  least  one-half  of 
the  day's  requirements  of  protein  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  those  of  inorganic  salts,  all  combined  in  such 

125 


form  as  to  furnish  sufficient  bulk  to  keep  the  digestive 
tract  in  good  condition. 

It  is  barely  possible  that  such  a  meal  could  be  pro- 
vided at  little,  if  any,  increased  cost  to  the  school, 
but  to  do  so  would  require  careful  planning  and 
supervision,  and  such  supervision  is  not  possible 
under  the  present  system  of  divided  control  and 
responsibility. 

Crippled  children  cannot  make  two  trips  back  and 
forth  a  day.  In  consequence,  they,  too,  have  dinner 
at  school,  but  they  get  a  regular  meal  consisting  of 
bread  and  jam  and  a  hot  dish,  such  as  beef  stew, 
minced  meat  with  potatoes,  thick  soup,  or  macaroni 
with  tomato  sauce.  A  few,  on  order  from  the  medical 
inspector,  get  milk  in  the  morning.  The  contract 
calls  for  300  calories  per  meal,  but  children  receive 
about  500.  This  is  a  more  appetizing  meal  than  the 
blind  children  have,  but  it  falls  short  of  the  stand- 
ard in  amount  of  protein,  salts,  etc.,  in  the  same 
way  as  do  the  dinners  for  those  children.  Twelve 
cents  is  set  aside  for  each  of  these  meals,  and  even 
allowing  for  the  extra  service  required  by  them  this 
amount  should  be  nearly  sufficient  to  provide  an 
adequate  meal. 

Children  for  whom  food  is  provided  are  in  small 
and  widely  separated  groups;  for  this  reason  service 
charges  are  high.  The  only  way  to  reduce  these 
charges  to  any  appreciable  degree  would  be  by  intro- 
ducing a  recess  lunch  service  into  all  schools  where 
special  meals  are  now  being  served.  Such  a  plan  is 
discussed  further  on. 

126 


Meals  as  described  are  paid  for  by  the  Board  of 
Education  and  served  to  crippled  and  open  air  chil- 
dren by  the  Philanthropy  Committee  of  the  Cleve- 
land Federation  of  Women's  Clubs;  for  blind  (begin- 
ning February,  1915)  by  the  Society  for  Promoting 
the  Interest  of  the  Bhnd.  The  cost  to  the  Board  of 
Education  for  lunches  of  these  various  groups  of 
children  for  1914-1915  is  given  in  Tables  1,  2,  and  3. 


TABLE  1.— COST  TO  CLEVELAND  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR 
TWO  LUNCHES  A  DAY  FOR  OPEN  AIR  CHILDREN 


" 

Children  in  open  air 

classes  at 

Total 

Cost  at 

1914-1915 

eight 

a 

flj 

o 

28 

T3 

d 

cents 

1 

1 

t 
^ 
^ 

per  day 

September 

8 

102 

25 

27 

25 

207 

«132.48 

October 

21 

115 

25 

29 

25 

27 

221 

371.28 

November 

18 

120 

25 

25 

30 

27 

227 

326.88 

December 

17 

120 

29 

25 

30 

27 

231 

314.16 

January 

20 

118 

29 

26 

25 

27 

225 

360.00 

February- 

19 

117 

30 

27 

30 

25 

229 

348.08 

March 

20 

120 

28 

27 

27 

25 

227 

363.20 

April 

20 

120 

28 

27 

27 

27 

229 

366.40 

May- 

20 

120 

25 

27 

27 

28 

227 

363.20 

June 

14 

120 

30 

25 

25 

25 

225 

252.00 

Total 

177 

1,172 

274 

266 

273 

263 

2,248 

$3,197.68 

The  Philanthropy  Committee,  in  addition  to  its 
other  work,  furnishes  breakfasts  and  ^^ penny'' 
lunches  in  certain  schools.  At  Murray  Hill  and  Rock- 
well they  serve  bre^,kfast,  at  St.  Clair  dinner,  and 
at  Eagle  both  breakfast  and  noon  lunch.  Accurate 
figures  giving  the  number  of  children  in  different 

127 


schools  receiving  meals  could  not  be  obtained,  but 
the  report  of  the  Committee,  May,  1915,  states  that 
''710  children  are  being  cared  for  daily,  400  of  whom 
receive  breakfast/'  This  figure  included  a  number 
of  children  who  went  to  East  End  Neighborhood 
House  for  their  dinner. 


TABLE  2.— COST  TO  CLEVELAND  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR 
ONE  HOT  DISH  AT  NOON  FOR  BLIND  CHILDREN 


Portions  served  per  month  at 

Total 
por- 
tions 

Cost  at 

four 

cents  per 

portion 

1915 

i 
5 

d 
o 

a 

(A 

§ 

1 

a 

> 

February- 
March 
April 
May 
June 

56 
260 
264 
251 
166 

12 
255 
242 
180 
156 

220 
190 
140 

40 
270 
251 
305 
210 

144 
220 
190 
130 

24 
110 
220 
200 
130 

132 
1,039 
1,417 
1,316 

932 

$5.28 
41.56 
56.68 
52.64 
37.28 

Total 

997 

845 

550 

1,076 

684 

684 

4,836 

$193.44 

Breakfast  consists  of  cereal  with  milk  and  sugar, 
cocoa,  or  soup,  and  bread  and  jam,  and  is  provided 
free  of  charge  by  the  Committee.  It  is  for  anaemic 
and  undernourished  children  who  are  selected  by  the 
medical  inspector  and  the  principal.  A  few  of  the 
open  air  children  at  Eagle  and  Murray  Hill  have 
breakfast. 

Dinner  consists  of  a  hot  dish,  soup,  macaroni  with 
cheese  or  tomato  sauce,  or  meat  and  potato,  and 
bread  and  jelly.  It  is  open  to  the  same  criticism  as 
the  other  dinners  described.    The  children  who  re- 

128 


ceive  it  are  anaemic  and  undernourished  and  are 
selected  by  the  principal  and  medical  inspector. 

A  few  open  air  children  at  Eagle  School  who  live 
out  of  the  district  and  too  far  away  to  go  home  at 
noon  are  allowed  for  this  reason  to  get  their  dinner 
at  school.    They  pay  a  penny  apiece. 


TABLE  3.— COST  TO  CLEVELAND  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  FOR 
NOON  MEAL  FOR  CRIPPLED  CHILDREN  AT  WILLSON 
SCHOOL 


Number 

Number  of 

Cost  at  12  cents 

1914-1915 

of  days 

children 

per  day  per  child 

September 

13 

72 

$112.32 

October 

21 

80 

201.60 

November 

18 

81 

174.96 

December 

17 

83 

169.32 

January 

20 

82 

196.80 

February 

19 

83 

189.24 

March 

20 

86 

206.40 

April 

20 

85 

204.00 

May 

20 

75 

180.00 

June 

14 

85 

142.80 

Total 

182 

812 

$1,777.44 

Lunchrooms  and  Preparation  of  Food 
For  blind  children,  cooking,  serving,  and  dishwashing 
are  done  in  classrooms  except  at  Addison  and  Mill 
where  other  rooms  are  utilized.  At  Harmon  and 
Waring,  children  are  big  enough  and  can  see  well 
enough  to  prepare  and  serve  the  meal.  At  Addison, 
Mill,  and  Waverley,  a  woman  is  paid  50  cents  a  day 
to  do  the  work,  and  at  Kennard  one  of  the  senior 
students  in  trade  cookery  at  East  Technical  does  it. 
She  receives  the  same  wage  as  the  others.  At  the 
9  129 


Willson  School  for  Cripples  food  is  prepared  in  a 
small  kitchen  and  served  in  a  room  used  as  a  class- 
room. 

The  cook  takes  entire  charge  and  does  all  work  ex- 
cept at  dinner  time  when  she  has  two  assistants  to 
help  with  the  serving.  She  works  on  an  average  five 
hours  per  day  and  receives  $7.50  per  week.  The  as- 
sistants work  six  hours  per  day  and  each  receives 
$5  per  week.  Except  for  serving,  their  work  is  un- 
connected with  the  lunchroom.  Two  dollars  and  a 
half  per  week  for  each  is  a  fair  charge  against  the 
lunch  service. 

At  Warren,  St.  Clair,  and  Mound,  where  open  air 
classes  are  in  "portables''  in  the  school  yard,  lunch 
is  prepared  and  served  in  the  classrooms.  At  Eagle, 
open  air  children  are  on  the  roof  and  kitchens  and 
lunch  rooms  are  up  there,  as  they  will  be  in  the  new 
Murray  Hill  Annex. 

Gay  pictures,  fresh  curtains,  sunshine,  and  grow- 
ing things  in  pots,  with  underneath  the  cleanliness 
of  soap,  water,  and  fresh  paint  are  first  impressions 
of  these  rooms.  They  are  distinctly  pleasant  places 
in  which  to  linger,  especially  when  rows  of  hungry 
children  are  seated  at  the  long  tables.  The  children 
fare  well,  so  well  that  it  seems  a  pity  that  these  rooms 
are  for  exceptional  children  only.  Because  of  limited 
finances  and  lack  of  space  normal  children  are  not 
invited. 

Two  organizations,  under  conditions  which  call 
for  school  cooperation,  are  doing  work  for  which  the 
Board  of  Education  pays.  This  divides  responsibility 

130 


and  largely  leaves  the  individual  cooks  to  manage 
their  own  schools. 

The  Philanthropy  Committee  sends  to  the  school 
such  supplies  as  can  be  accommodated  and  renews 
the  stock  as  it  gets  low.  Individuals,  guilds,  and  busi- 
ness houses  contribute  jellies,  jams,  dry  groceries, 
crackers,  and  cookies,  in  some  cases  through  the  Com- 
mittee, in  others  direct  to  the  school.  Cooks  use 
whatever  comes  their  way,  but  the  Committee  some- 
times does  not  know  of  the  donation  until  some  time 
after  it  is  exhausted.  So  long  as  the  food  is  ready  on 
time  and  children  like  it,  the  cooks  do  pretty  much 
as  they  please,  for  the  supervision  is  for  product  ob- 
tained, not  method  employed. 

Since  standard  recipes  are  not  used,  dishes  vary 
from  school  to  school,  but  the  food  is  generally  well 
cooked,  and  children  eat  all  that  is  given  them.  Often 
they  ask  for  more,  which  they  get  until  the  supply  is 
exhausted.  All  food  prepared  is  eaten,  but  the  system 
is  costly.  If  meals  were  more  carefully  planned  and 
work  more  critically  supervised,  as  good  results 
could  be  secured  for  less  effort  and  money. 


Food  Natural  Need  of  All  Children 
No  one  teaches  children  to  spend  their  pennies  for 
things  to  eat;  given  a  penny,  they  do  it  quite  spon- 
taneously. The  school  lunch  recognizes  this  natural 
demand  for  food  which  all  children  make  and  pur- 
poses using  it  for  their  advantage. 

In  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  street  vendors 

131 


try  hard  for  this  trade,  and  in  schools  which  have  no 
lunch  service,  do  a  thriving  business.  In  Cleveland 
vendors  are  not  allowed  in  or  near  school  yards,  but 
small  shops  take  their  place  in  getting  pennies.  Man- 
ufacturers vie  with  one  another  for  this  business  and 
turn  out  an  ingenious  and  varied  assortment  of 
'^ penny''  goods  to  attract  trade.  The  rapid  increase 
in  kind  and  number  of  slot  machines  alone  shows  that 
it  pays  well. 

The  morning  recess  provides  a  good  opportunity 
for  children  to  get  food  when  they  want  it  at  a  time 
when  it  is  good  for  them.  For  one  reason  or  another, 
— such  as  no  appetite,  late  rising,  no  one  to  oversee 
them, — ^many  children  start  the  day  on  an  insuffi- 
cient or  improper  breakfast  or  none  at  all.  By  10 
o'clock  they  are  hungry  and  ready  to  eat  substantial 
food.  If  they  know  they  can  get  lunch  at  school,  they 
will  save  their  pennies  and  buy  it,  otherwise  they 
patronize  small  shops,  vendors,  or  slot  machines  on 
the  way  to  and  from  school. 

Then,  too,  children  who  have  had  a  good  breakfast 
at  home  are  hungry  by  10  o'clock  and  welcome  a  light 
lunch.  It  takes  the  edge  off  their  appetites,  keeps 
them  from  getting  so  restless  in  the  long  hour  from  11 
to  12,  relieves  the  strain  on  the  teacher,  and  enables 
her  to  use  that  period  to  greater  advantage. 


School  Lunch  or  Street  Lunch 
It  is  not  for  the  school  to  permit  children  to  get 
food  at  home  or  go  without.   The  children  have  al- 

132 


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s                             ^^^^1 

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sssr 

i^mm 

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MM 

Lunches  for  children, — the  street  kind  versus  the  school  kind 


ready  decided  that  question.  They  want  food  and 
have  money  to  buy  it.  The  school  cannot  prevent 
their  doing  so,  but  it  can  control  the  kind  and  quality 
of  food  they  get  and  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  get  it. 

The  street  lunch  is  of  cheap  material,  high  priced. 
It  is  selected,  not  to  meet  the  special  needs  of  grow- 
ing children,  but  for  profit.  It  is  exposed  to  dust  and 
dirt,  kept  under  unstandardized  and  often  unsanitary 
conditions,  and  handled  by  careless  people.  Every 
time  they  buy  it,  children  get  wrong  impressions 
about  what  constitutes  food  and  how  much  and  how 
good  food  a  nickel  or  a  penny  will  buy. 

When  the  school  serves  lunch,  it  provides  at  fair 
prices  a  wide  variety  of  wholesome  food,  especially 
adapted  to  children's  needs.  The  meal  is  prepared 
and  served  under  sanitary  conditions  by  skilled 
people.  Day  by  day  the  lunchroom  drives  home 
certain  useful  impressions,  such  as,  ^^Cost  varies  ac- 
cording to  what  you  buy;"  ^^The  most  'filling'  thing 
you  can  get  for  a  penny  is  rice  pudding  or  graham 
crackers;''  ''When  you  are  cold  and  hungry,  hot 
bean  soup  is  a  lot  better  than  a  pickle  or  three  laven- 
dar  gum  drops;"  "Somebody  must  pay  for  break- 
age, service,  and  wasted  food;"  "Cost  depends  on 
what  you  get  for  the  money." 

Children  are  conservative  shoppers  and  not  easily 
tempted  by  new  dishes.  The  chap,  who,  with  one 
cent  deeply  deposited  in  some  obscure  pocket,  wants 
bean  soup,  is  not  to  be  beguiled  by  macaroni  and 
tomato  sauce  which  he  knows  only  by  reputation. 

133 


He  loiters  down  the  counter  till  he  finds  something 
which  looks  familiar  and  buys  that. 

Economic  stress  at  home  shows  up  very  plainly  at 
lunch  time  and  affects  both  the  kind  of  food  chosen 
and  the  amount  spent.  Unemployment  struck  Phila- 
delphia hard  in  the  winter  of  1914-15.  Children  who 
generally  had  two  pennies  to  spend  for  lunch  had 
one,  or  there  was  one  to  the  family,  and  how  to  get 
the  most  for  that  penny  was  most  carefully  con- 
sidered. Average  receipts  per  school  dropped,  but 
sales  of  hot  dishes,  soup,  cocoa,  succotash,  increased. 
The  demand  for  sweet  chocolate,  stick  candy,  and 
peanuts  fell  off;  but  graham  crackers,  milk  lunch 
crackers,  and  pretzels  more  than  held  their  own. 

Teaching  children  to  eat  nutritious  food  is  good, 
but  teaching  them  to  buy  it  is  much  better.  Polish 
children  in  Philadelphia  will  consume  large  quanti- 
ties of  corn-meal  mush  with  milk  when  it  is  given  to 
them,  but  when  it  is  offered  for  sale  they  buy  candy 
instead.  This  is  one  of  the  weak  points  about  free 
feeding,  for  exceptional  children  who  get  free  meals 
are  taught  to  eat  what  is  set  before  them,  not  to  de- 
mand and  buy  wholesome  food  only. 

The  school  cannot  prevent  normal  children  from 
buying  lunch  and  at  the  same  time  forming  concep- 
tions about  food  and  food  values,  but  it  can  direct 
this  buying  and  insure  their  forming  rational  stan- 
dards of  food  values.  When  children  get  wholesome 
food  in  school  and  sane  habits  of  buying  it  which 
carry  over  after  they  leave  school,  the  lunch  service 
has  accomplished  one  important  part  of  its  work. 

134 


Food  Clinics 

Public  schools  exist  for  all  children,  and  all  chil- 
dren must  attend  school.  This  places  upon  the  school 
the  burden  of  caring  for  all  alike.  The  exceptional 
child  must  be  especially  provided  for  at  meal  time 
because  he  is  blind  or  crippled  and  cannot  go  home 
for  dinner;  the  open  air  or  under-nourished  child, 
because  his  parents  are  too  ignorant  or  too  poor  to 
provide  a  sufficient  amount  of  proper  food  for  him. 

These  under-nourished  children  are  a  menace,  not 
only  to  themselves  but  to  all  other  children.  When 
they  are  exposed  to  contagious  disease,  they  suc- 
cumb almost  immediately,  and  in  proportion  as  they 
are  under-nourished.  The  remedy  is  simple.  Food 
of  the  right  kind  in  sufficient  amounts  is  largely  the 
treatment  for  malnutrition. 

Provision  for  exceptional  children  is  neither  diffi- 
cult nor  costly  when  a  lunch  service  is  already  organ- 
ized. BUnd  and  crippled  children  require  the  same 
kind  of  food  as  do  any  others,  but  need  additional 
service, — an  extra  meal,  or  one  served  separately. 
Likewise  open  air  and  under-nourished  children  do 
not  require  a  special  diet.  They  need  more  food  at 
shorter  intervals  with  greater  emphasis  on  certain 
kinds.  ^^  Special  feeding '^  cases,  which  occur  infre- 
quently, call  in  large  measure  for  specified  quantities 
of  foods  which  are  on  the  regular  menu,  or  which  can 
easily  be  obtained. 


135 


Medical  Inspection  Cooperation  Desirable 
Food  clinics  offer  an  opportunity  for  cooperation 
between  the  school  lunch  department  and  school 
doctors  and  nurses.  The  lunch  department  may  make 
itself  felt  in  the  home  through  a  new  channel.  Doctors 
and  nurses  have  won  the  confidence  of  the  parents 
through  service  rendered.  They  are  giving  instruc- 
tions about  various  health  needs  of  children.  The 
lunch  department  can  help  here.  It  can  work  out  the 
daily  or  weekly  diet  of  children  in  relation  to  age, 
family  tastes,  standards,  and  amount  to  be  spent. 
It  can  help  with  advice  and  suggestions  regarding 
'^special  feeding''  cases  and,  if  necessary,  provide 
recipes  and  show  mothers  how  to  prepare  various 
new  and  unknown  dishes. 


Lunch  Service  a  Big  Business 
At  first  glance  it  seems  hardly  worth  while  to  give 
much  time  and  thought  to  what  children  do  with 
their  pennies,  but  their  spendings  amount  to  an 
enormous  sum  each  year.  Table  4  shows  what  chil- 
dren spend  for  their  lunches  in  other  cities. 


table  4. 


-WHAT   children   IN   OTHER  CITIES   SPENT   AT 
SCHOOL  IN  1914-15 


City 

Number 
of  schools 

Number  of 

children  in 

schools 

Total 
receipts 

Average 
annual  ex- 
penditure 
per  child  in 
school 

New  York 
Buffalo 
Cincinnati 
Columbus 

19 

16 

14 

4 

27,500 

1,500 

600 

1,269 

$14,810 

2,261 

1,260 

723 

$0.54 

1.51 

2.10 

.57 

136 


For  Cleveland  there  are  no  figures  available,  as  the 
city  provides  lunch  for  exceptional  children  only, 
and  the  majority  of  them  are  fed  free.  But  children 
here  are  like  city  children  elsewhere.  They  spend 
money  for  lunch  and,  where  no  other  provision  is 
made,  buy  it  at  the  small  store.  As  a  rule  small  shop- 
keepers are  opposed  to  school  meals  for  it  interferes 
with  their  trade.  Because  it  was  cutting  into  the 
trade  of  a  nearby  store  there  is  an  injunction  (by 
agreement)  against  one  of  the  Cleveland  high  schools 
to  prevent  its  lunchroom  from  selling  more  than  one 
plate  of  ice  cream  to  a  child.  Candy  may  not  be  sold 
either,  though  chocolate  is  counted  a  food  and  al- 
lowed because  of  its  high  food  value.  Yet  sugar  in 
candy  is  food  and  one  which  is  very  necessary  to 
health.  Children  all  crave  sweets  and  will  have  them. 
To  meet  this  demand,  the  lunchroom  was  providing 
a  good  grade  at  a  moderate  price.  It  was  forced  to 
close  out  its  stock  and  stand  by  while  students  pur- 
chased no  better  but  more  expensive  kinds  down  the 
street.  Ice  cream  is  a  wholesome  food,  much  better 
for  growing  children  than  pie;  the  injunction  per- 
mits only  one  five  cent  plate  of  cream  to  a  child,  but 
raises  no  question  as  to  the  amount  of  pie  he  may  get. 

On  the  other  hand,  reliable  manufacturers  wel- 
come school  lunch  service  for  it  meets  and  standard- 
izes a  profitable  but  unstable  trade.  This  centraliza- 
tion makes  the  trade  bulk  larger  and  gives  it  an  in- 
creased advertising  value  which  manufacturers  are 
quick  to  recognize. 

Lunchrooms  are  already  equipped  in  a  number  of 

137 


elementary  schools.  At  little  additional  expense  they 
could  be  utilized  by  all  children  in  those  schools. 
These  children  have  pennies;  they  are  spending 
them,  but  will  not  get  their  money^s  worth  until  the 
school  provides  lunch  service  for  them. 


Consolidated  Lunch  Service 

At  the  present  time  the  Board  of  Education  is  pay- 
ing for  meals  for  children  in  special  classes.  These 
meals  are  provided  by  the  Philanthropy  Committee 
of  the  Cleveland  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  and 
the  Society  for  Promoting  the  Interests  of  the  Blind. 
Responsibility  of  the  service  is  divided  between  the 
two  committees  and  the  division  of  medical  inspec- 
tion. High  school  lunches  are  served  by  individual 
concessionnaires  at  the  various  schools,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  division  of  medical  inspection. 

Elementary  and  secondary  school  lunches  should 
be  under  one  division,  although  considered  separately 
in  regard  to  menus,  price,  size  of  portions,  and 
methods  of  service.  They  should  have  uniform  direc- 
tion, uniform  standards,  and  a  central  buying  and 
accounting  system  to  make  possible  a  comparison 
of  costs  and  results  and  to  insure  in  both  the  carry- 
ing out  of  a  sequential  and  constructive  plan  of 
work. 

The  purpose  and  general  program  of  lunch  service 
for  grade  and  secondary  schools  are  much  the  same. 
They  differ  most  in  details  of  administration,  and  of 
the  two  the  elementary  service  is  by  far  the  more 

138 


difficult  to  handle  satisfactorily.  In  Cleveland  the 
population  in  the  100  grade  schools  is  nine  times  as 
great  as  in  the  12  high  schools.  The  children  are 
younger.  They  have  less  money  to  spend  than  do 
older  children  and  they  are  more  influenced  by 
seasons  and  the  weather. 

Children  as  well  as  grown-ups  have  marked  tastes 
and  individual  preferences,  so  that  whoever  is  re- 
sponsible for  elementary  school  lunches  has  to  be 
continually  on  the  alert  if  the  pupils  are  to  get  their 
money^s  worth  of  food  they  like  which  measures  up 
to  the  standard. 

Summary 

1.  This  report  is  based  on  visits  made  to  each  of  the 
various  types  of  school  where  lunch  is  served;  on 
interviews  at  the  schools  with  principals,  class 
teachers,  and  cooks;  on  careful  study  of  minutes 
of  the  Board  of  Education  which  relate  to  elementary 
lunch  service  since  its  beginning  in  1909;  on  study 
of  all  available  material  issued  by  the  Federated 
Clubs;  and  on  conferences  with  the  chairman  of 
the  Philanthropy  Committee,  the  superintendent  of 
lunches,  the  director  of  medical  inspection,  the 
school  architect,  supervisor  of  requisitions  and  sup- 
plies, and  the  director  of  schools. 

2.  There  are  two  viewpoints  regarding  school  feed- 
ing: the  one,  Cleveland's,  that  it  is  a  duty  imposed 
upon  the  school  by  the  particular  needs  of  a  partic- 
ular group;  the  other,  that  school  lunches  meet  a 
natural  need  of  all  children,  normal  and  exceptional, 

139 


and  afford  at  the  same  time  an  opportunity  to  teach 
them  to  choose  wisely  the  food  they  buy. 

3.  School  lunches  are  of  two  kinds:  those  which 
supplement  the  home  dietary,  and  those  which  take 
the  place  of  meals  at  home.  Recess  lunches  generally 
fall  into  the  former  class,  noon  lunches  into  the  latter. 
Recess  lunches  present  the  simpler  feeding  problem 
and  are  cheaper  to  provide.  Noon  lunches  are  much 
more  complex. 

4.  Cleveland  is  far  in  advance  of  most  cities  in 
providing  lunches,  served  under  sanitary  conditions, 
for  all  members  of  classes  for  blind,  crippled,  and  open 
air  children. 

5.  The  Board  of  Education  pays  for  meals  which 
the  Philanthropy  Committee  of  the  Federation  of 
Women's  Clubs  and  the  Society  for  Promoting  the 
Interests  of  the  Blind  provide.  Responsibility  for 
details  of  work  is  divided  among  the  two  organiza- 
tions, the  principals,  and  the  supervisor  of  high  school 
lunches.  Food  is  wholesome  and  plentiful,  but  not 
uniform  in  quality.  It  is  prepared  by  women  engaged 
by  the  two  organizations.  They  use  their  judgment 
regarding  recipes,  methods  of  preparation,  and  re- 
sults to  be  obtained. 

6.  Cleveland's  lunch  service  is  costly  because: 

a.  Lunch  is  served  to  exceptional  children  only, 
in  small  and  widely  scattered  groups. 

b.  Authority  and  responsibility  for  the  service 
are  divided,  making  impossible  any  definite 
and  centralized  contracts  or  planning. 

7.  The  school  exists  for  all  children  and  must  care 

140 


for  all.  Food  is  a  natural  need  of  all  children.  Morn- 
ing recess  provides  a  good  opportunity  for  all  children 
to  get  food  when  they  want  it  at  a  time  when  it  is 
good  for  them.  Through  food  clinics  it  can  care  for 
under-nourished  children  who  are  a  menace,  not 
only  to  themselves,  but  to  all  other  children.  Food  is 
the  treatment  for  malnutrition. 

8.  Children  spend  money  for  food.  Given  the  op- 
portunity, they  will  spend  it  at  school  for  whole- 
some food,  otherwise  on  the  street.  The  street  lunch 
is  of  cheap  material  priced  high.  Every  time  they 
buy  it,  children  get  wrong  impressions  about  what 
constitutes  food  and  how  much  good  food  a  penny  or 
a  nickel  will  buy. 

9.  The  annual  food  expenditure  of  children  is  very 
great. 

In  June,  1915,  Cleveland  had  77,833  children  in 
her  public  elementary  schools.  Judging  from  other 
cities,  each  one  of  these  children  spends  about  $1.50 
for  food  each  school  year,  or  a  total  of  approximately 
$116,750  per  school  year. 

10.  The  Philanthropy  Committee  of  the  Cleve- 
land Federation  of  Women^s  Clubs  has  rendered  a 
public  service.  It  began  its  work  in  1909  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  pointing  out  the  need  for  a  lunch 
service  for  exceptional  children,  and  of  showing  how 
such  a  service  could  be  administered. 

11.  The  Committee  has  successfully  accomplished 
its  purpose.  It  should  now  be  relieved  from  further 
responsibility  for  the  lunch  service.  The  function  of 
a  private  organization  is  to  experiment  and  demon- 

141 


strate.  It  cannot  eventuate  on  a  large  scale,  and  it 
should  not  if  it  could.  The  function  of  a  public  or- 
ganization is  to  eventuate  on  a  large  scale.  It  can 
seldom  experiment  and  it  lacks  freedom  and  flexi- 
bility in  demonstration.  The  time  has  come  for 
Cleveland  to  eventuate  on  a  large  scale. 

12.  To  organize  lunches  throughout  the  elementary 
schools  would  require  no  great  outlay  beyond  initial 
equipment,  since  with  proper  management  the  busi- 
ness will  be  big  enough  to  pay  its  own  way,  particu- 
larly if  it  is  combined  with  the  high  school  lunch 
service.  The  latter  is  organized  on  a  large  scale;  the 
elementary  service  is  partially  organized;  the  two 
should  be  centralized  and  consolidated.  The  advan- 
tages of  such  a  plan  are  discussed  in  the  following 
chapter  on  high  school  lunches. 


142 


CHAPTER  VII 

HIGH  SCHOOL  LUNCH  SERVICE 

Lunch  at  school  offers  a  natural  opportunity  for 
students  to  get  better  acquamted  with  others  in  differ- 
ent sections  and  years,  and  to  meet  teachers  outside 
the  classroom.  Here  American  and  foreign  children 
alike  may  learn  social  customs  without  embarrass- 
ment. Children  of  the  rich  are  often  sent  to  private 
schools  where  much  emphasis  is  laid  on  training  given 
in  social  usage  at  table.  Poise  and  a  gracious  manner, 
real  assets  at  home  or  at  work,  come  only  after  long 
familiarity  with  the  amenities  of  life.  A  school  meal 
can  contribute  a  part  to  this  needed  training  of  the 
young  people  in  our  public  schools. 

The  school  can  control  the  kind,  quality,  and  cost 
of  food  sold  and  service  given.  It  can  make  this  busi- 
ness, supported  entirely  by  students'  money,  an  edu- 
cational opportunity  for  every  child  in  school  by  so 
planning  the  service  that  it  becomes  a  practice  course 
in  spending. 

The  educational  program  is  based  on  the  fact  that 
everyone  needs  to  know  the  relation  of  wholesome 
food  to  health,  and  of  health  to  efficient  living;  the 
value  to  the  body  of  various  foods  for  repair  and 

143 


building  of  tissue  or  doing  work;  how  soon  and  how 
quickly  foods  can  be  digested  and  utilized.  To  be  of 
value,  this  knowledge  must  be  used  and  the  lunch- 
room is  a  fine  place  to  try  it  out.  Here  children  can 
form  sane  habits  of  eating.  It  is  not  enough  for  them 
to  like  wholesome  food;  they  must  learn  to  buy  it 
and  eat  it,  whether  in  school  or  out. 

Every  time  any  one  buys  an  article,  he  gets  an 
idea  about  it  in  terms  of  its  cost  and  use,  its  value, 
and  quality.  Manufacturers  all  know  the  worth  of 
this  repeated  impression.  They  spend  much  money 
and  take  great  pains  to  tell  in  persuasive  and  con- 
vincing tones  how  cheap  and  useful,  valuable  and 
fine,  their  product  is.  They  hunt  up  special  names  to 
help  them  sell  their  wares.  They  register  names, 
brands,  and  trade  marks  because  their  money  value 
is  so  great.  In  many  cities  manufacturers  and  jobbers 
alike  are  now  competing  for  school  lunch  business 
which  is  already  big  and  steadily  growing  bigger. 

But  children  not  only  spend  money;  they  intro- 
duce into  their  homes  new  goods  which  they  like. 
This  makes  of  every  child  an  advertising  agent  and 
from  the  manufacturer's  point  of  view  this  is  most 
desirable.  It  is  also  desirable  from  the  school  point 
of  view  if  the  school  has  planned  and  organized  its 
lunch  to  this  end.  The  street  business,  too,  is  a  real 
one  and  it  gives  children  ideas  about  what  consti- 
tutes food,  what  it  costs,  and  what  the  return  is,  but 
the  ideas  often  are  wrong  and  the  food,  even  if  harm- 
less, is  high  priced. 


144 


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School  Lunches  Not  New  in  Cleveland 
For  16  years  before  1909  there  was  haphazard  pro- 
vision for  Cleveland  high  school  students  at  lunch 
time.  Lunch  wagons  went  to  the  school,  or  near-by 
stores  served  hot  meals.  In  addition,  several  prin- 
cipals made  arrangements  with  caterers  to  serve 
basket  lunches  on  the  premises.  In  1909  the  board  of 
high  school  principals,  backed  by  the  superintendent 
of  schools,  asked  for  a  longer  school  session  and  a  45 
minute  lunch  period.  The  board  considered  the 
matter  but  decided  that  ''owing  to  lack  of  adequate 
dining  room  facilities  in  the  high  schools,  it  is  inad- 
visable to  make  any  changes  at  this  time  in  the  pres- 
ent high  school  sessions.'' 

A  short  time  later  the  school  architect  reported, 
''Arrangements  for  lunch  facilities  are  feasible  at 
East,  West,  South,  Lincoln,  and  Glenville  high 
schools,  involving  no  special  changes  in  architecture 
except  at  South  and  Glenville  High, ''  and  that  same 
summer  lunchrooms  were  installed  in  the  schools 
mentioned  and  at  Normal  School  and  the  High 
School  of  Commerce.  At  East  Technical  High  School 
a  lunchroom  had  been  equipped  the  preceding  year, 
but  at  Central,  because  of  its  size  and  lack  of  ade- 
quate space,  it  was  deemed  inadvisable  to  install  the 
service.  From  its  opening  in  1911,  until  1914,  West 
Technical  ran  its  own  lunchroom;  in  1914  this  lunch- 
room was  incorporated  into  the  regular  lunch  system. 

Most  of  these  high  school  lunchrooms,  when  open- 
ed, were  operated  by  the  same  people  who  had  for- 
merly sold  basket  lunches.  The  new  arrangement  put 
10  145 


the  salespeople  under  yearly  contract  with  the  Board 
of  Education  on  the  '^concessionnaire''  plan.  In  the 
contract  the  Board  of  Education  agreed  ^Ho  furnish 
all  the  necessary  equipment,  as  well  as  heat,  Ught,  gas, 
and  water,  sufficient  for  the  proper  maintenance 
of  the  lunchrooms,''  and  'Ho  replace  all:  equipment 
rendered  useless  through  natural  wear  and  tear.'' 

The  concessionnaire  agreed  to  ''replace  or  pay  for 
all  equipment  lost  or  destroyed  in  any  manner  other 
than  through  natural  wear  and  tear;  to  furnish  food 
of  a  quality  approved  by  the  supervisor  of  high  school 
luncheon  rooms;  and  to  sell  the  same  in  accordance 
with  the  uniform  scale  of  prices  approved  by  the  said 
supervisor  of  high  school  luncheon  rooms;  and  to  re- 
port each  week  to  the  said  supervisor  the  total  re- 
ceipts, total  expenditures,  the  total  number  fed,  and 
total  number  employed." 

The  contract  is  terminable  "at  the  will  of  either 
party  upon  30  days'  notice." 


Two  Distinct  Policies  with  Regard  to  School 
Lunch  Service 

Cleveland's  method  is  one  of  several  ways  which 
school  boards  in  the  United  States  have  worked  out 
for  dealing  with  the  high  school  lunch  problem.  These 
methods  may  be  classified  in  two  distinct  groups.  In 
the  first  case,  the  lunchroom  is  run  to  benefit  those 
who  serve  lunch.  In  the  second  case,  it  is  organized 
and  run  to  benefit  those  who  buy  lunch. 
Cleveland's  place  is  in  the  first  group,  for  although 

146 


lunchrooms  were  equipped  by  the  Board  and  are 
supervised  by  a  supervisor  of  lunches  who  ranks  as 
assistant  in  the  division  of  medical  inspection,  an 
important  factor  in  determining  the  quality,  quantity 
and  price  of  food  sold  is  still  a  steady  profit  for  the 
concessionnaire.  This  plan  is  followed  in  many  other 
cities,  for  example,  New  York,  where,  at  Wadleigh 
High  School,  a  student  organization  runs  the  lunch 
and  receives  the  profit  from  it;  or  at  Washington 
Irving  High  School,  which, — counters  and  tables  ex- 
cepted,— a  caterer  equipped  and  runs  at  a  profit. 
In  the  second  group  are  cities  such  as  Boston, 
where  the  Women's  Industrial  and  Educational 
Union  partially  equipped  the  lunchrooms  and  runs 
them  at  cost  with  the  expectation  of  eventually  turn- 
ing them  over  to  the  school  system;  or  Philadelphia, 
where  the  Board  of  Education  employs  a  Superin- 
tendent of  Lunches  to  organize  and  provide  meals  at 
cost.  Rochester,  Pittsburgh,  and  Buffalo  follow  simi- 
lar plans.  It  is  obvious  that  if  the  main  purpose  of 
the  lunchroom  is  to  give  children  good  food  at  low 
cost,  this  plan  is  the  better. 


Extent  of  Service  in  Cleveland 
In  1914-1915  lunch  service  was  provided  for  the 
Normal  School  and  all  high  schools  except  two,  Col- 
lingwood  and  Central.  The  average  daily  attendance 
in  the  normal  and  high  schools  was  8,043,  and  of  those 
students  6,715  or  84  per  cent  were  given  lunchroom 
facilities.  The  total  business  done  was  $36,777.  This 

147 


year,  1915-1916,  a  larger  number  of  students,  actu- 
ally and  proportionally,  will  enjoy  this  privilege, 
since  the  service  was  extended  to  Central  in  Septem- 
ber. With  this  great  increase  in  numbers  served,  it 
seems  probable  that  for  1915-1916  the  business  will 
be  close  to  $45,000. 


Standards  for  High  School  Meals 

The  time  of  service  for  high  school  lunches  through- 
out the  country  is  uniform.  They  are  served  at  mid- 
day and  take  the  place  of  a  meal  which  for  many 
families  is  the  main  meal  of  the  day.  Every  lunch 
department  should  take  this  condition  into  account, 
and  plan  so  as  to  provide  a  substantial  meal  for  chil- 
dren who  miss  the  home  dinner,  as  well  as  a  Kght 
lunch  for  children  who  will  get  dinner  at  home  in  the 
evening.  While  this  problem  is  not  so  difficult  as 
that  which  confronts  the  elementary  service,  be- 
cause children  are  older  and  have  more  money  to 
spend,  it  nevertheless  calls  for  skilful  management 
on  the  part  of  the  director.  The  chief  requirement 
for  a  light  lunch  is  fuel  value,  but  if  lunch  is  appe- 
tizing and  bulky  enough  to  satisfy  a  child^s  hunger, 
the  fuel  requirement  is  likely  to  be  met. 

Planning  dinner  is  a  much  more  difficult  task.  In 
the  average  household  dinner  is  the  meal  which 
furnishes  not  only  a  large  amount  of  the  day's  re- 
quirements of  fuel,  but  also  a  large  proportion  of  the 
necessary  protein  (which  has  many  uses  other  than 
fuel  value)  and  the  greater  part  of  the  inorganic 

148 


salts — ^the  whole  in  such  form  as  to  stimulate  the 
digestive  processes  and  keep  the  alimentary  tract  in 
tone.  In  the  following  discussion  Cleveland's  high 
school  lunch  service  is  reviewed  with  this  general 
standard  as  the  basis  for  comparison. 


Lunch  Menus 

Lunch  menus  vary  from  school  to  school  but  follow 
a  similar  plan.  At  the  academic  and  commercial 
schools  the  menu  calls  for  a  soup,  a  meat,  two  vege- 
tables, a  salad  or  relish,  milk,  one  or  two  sandwiches, 
bread  and  butter,  crackers,  a  homemade  dessert, 
pie,  and  often  cake,  ice  cream,  and  sweet  chocolate. 
The  technical  schools,  which  have  a  heavier  program 
and  a  longer  day,  increase  the  variety  by  adding  to 
the  list  an  extra  meat  or  meat  substitute,  an  extra 
vegetable,  and  more  desserts. 

There  is  no  uniform  practice  with  regard  to  menu 
display.  Several  schools  have  no  menu,  while  in 
others  it  is  written  in  a  flowing  hand  on  some  incon- 
spicuous blackboard.  The  following  is  a  typical 
menu  in  the  Cleveland  high  schools : 


1  cent 


Vegetable  soup 

4  cents 

Pickle 

1 

Beef  stew 

6     '' 

Crackers 

1 

Mashed  potatoes 

4     " 

Peach  tapioca 

5 

Creamed  potatoes 

5     " 

Pie,  apple  and  cocoa- 

Baked  beans 

5     " 

nut  custard 

5 

Beet  salad 

5     " 

Orange  and  banana 

5 

Apple  sauce 

5     " 

Ice  cream 

5 

Roll  and  butter 

2     " 

Milk 

3 

149 


This  menu  as  given  offers  a  generous  list  of  dishes 
from  which  to  choose  either  a  Ught  lunch  or  a  sub- 
stantial dinner,  but  comparison  of  actual  menus 
and  food  served  in  different  schools  indicates  a  need 
for  greater  care  and  uniformity  in  the  daily  menu. 
In  some  schools  the  range  of  choice  is  too  great,  in 
others  too  small.  In  all  it  is  uneven.  Vegetable  soup 
is  always  vegetable  soup  and  the  price  is  four  cents; 
but  price  is  the  only  constant  factor,  for  the  materials 
used  vary  from  school  to  school.  That  is,  a  nickel 
will  buy  more  food,  often  of  better  quality,  in  one 
school  than  it  will  in  another.  Attractiveness,  too, 
varies  throughout  the  system.  Baked  beans  in  little 
hot  brown  bean  pots  are  appetizing.  Served  on  a 
large,  tepid,  stone  plate  they  would  be  quite  the  con- 
trary, especially  if  they  had  been  dished  some  time 
before  serving. 

Each  concessionnaire  has  her  own  recipes  and 
uses  her  own  judgment  as  to  the  proportion  of  differ- 
ent ingredients  used  and  the  result  to  be  obtained. 
With  such  a  plan,  a  wide  variation  in  product  is  to 
be  expected  and  is  found.  A  few  schools  have  very 
good  cooking  to  balance  a  few  more  where  it  is  very 
poor.  In  the  majority,  however,  it  is  '^good  enough 
if  one  is  hungry. ''  Yet,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
concessionnaires  work  equally  hard  and  are  equally 
interested  in  their  work. 

The  supervisor  of  high  school  lunches  has  stan- 
dardized certain  foods,  such  as  ice  cream,  sweet  choc- 
olate, and  milk.  The  latter  is  now  furnished  in  indi- 
vidual bottles  by  one  of  the  best  dairies  in  the  city. 

150 


All  other  supplies  are  chosen  by  the  individual  con- 
cessionnaires,  who  are  entirely  responsible  for  the 
service.  In  a  number  of  schools  they  prepare  the 
food  themselves,  which  increases  their  difficulties  for 
they  are  frequently  interrupted  by  tradespeople, 
by  lunchroom  helpers  asking  questions,  by  stray 
students  who  need  attention,  and  by  teachers  on 
diet  who  want  beef  juice  or  an  eggnog,  or  by  other 
teachers  who  have  a  free  hour  and  want  a  special 
meal.  Lunch  has  to  be  prepared  in  between  these 
demands  and  dishes  are  sometimes  ready  long  before 
the  regular  lunch  period. 

Service 

The  technical  high  schools  have  a  longer  day  than 
others  and  divide  their  time  into  nine  periods,  so  ar- 
ranged that  each  student  has  at  least  one  vacant 
period  between  11:30  and  1:30.  This  time  he  takes 
for  lunch  and  recreation. 

In  the  academic  and  commercial  schools,  students 
have  20  minutes  in  which  to  buy  lunch,  eat  it,  and 
go  to  and  from  classrooms.  This  is  too  short.  The 
noon  period  should  be  long  enough  to  enable  children 
and  teachers  to  relax,  to  have  a  quiet,  restful  meal, 
and  to  spend  a  few  extravagant  minutes  as  they 
please  before  going  on  with  the  afternoon's  work. 
Industry  is  gradually  learning  the  limitations  of 
speeding  up,  and  that  fatigue  does  not  make  for  effi- 
ciency. In  this  connection  the  school  might  profit- 
ably learn  a  lesson  from  good  factory  practice,  which 
tries  in  every  way  to  lessen  the  strain  of  the  workers. 

151 


When  they  can,  principals  relieve  the  pressure  by 
allowing  students  who  have  free  periods  immediately 
before  or  after  recess  to  buy  then,  but  the  majority 
have  to  be  served  at  one  time.  This  is  difficult  to  do. 
Rooms  are  small  and  counters  placed  to  save  space 
rather  than  time.  Many  rooms  have  but  one  en- 
trance and  students  get  jammed  there  as  well  as  at 
the  counter,  but  they  are  considerate  and  wait  pa- 
tiently for  their  turn.  They  enjoy  their  common 
meal  and  eat  it  in  as  leisurely  a  manner  as  the  time 
and  space  at  their  disposal  will  permit.  Two  45 
minute  periods  with  students  divided  into  two  groups 
or  perhaps  overlapping,  more  student  aids  to  facili- 
tate service,  and  careful  counter  arrangement  with 
better  and  uniform  provision  for  receiving  money, 
would  largely  correct  these  difficulties. 

More  than  time  saving,  however,  should  be  con- 
sidered in  arranging  a  lunch  counter.  A  prominent 
position  on  the  counter  makes  an  article  sell  well. 
Students  do  not  entirely  stop  buying  pie  because  it 
has  been  pushed  into  the  background  and  milk  has 
taken  its  place  on  the  counter,  but  they  do  buy  more 
milk  and  less  pie  than  formerly.  The  sale  of  almost 
any  article  can  be  increased  if  it  is  skilfully  '^fea- 
tured.'' The  lunchroom  manager  should  bear  this  in 
mind  and  feature  new  dishes  like  rice  with  creamed 
sauce  which  she  wants  to  introduce,  or  old  ones  such 
as  apple  tapioca  that  are  more  wholesome  than 
popular. 

During  lunch  period  students  help  serve.  They  are 
selected  by  principal  or  teachers.    Their  period  of 

152 


service  is  irregular,  depending  on  how  well  they  like 
the  work  and  how  well  they  do  it.  The  concession- 
naire  gives  them  what  directions  they  get  and  usually 
they  have  a  particular  task  assigned  them.  Require- 
ments as  to  neatness  and  clean  hands  vary  with  the 
individual  concessionnaire.  Students  do  not  have 
regular  uniforms,  although  some  girls  wear  aprons. 
At  Commercial  and  West  Technical  boys  act  as 
cashiers.  Both  boys  and  girls  are  on  duty  from  10  to 
20  minutes,  and  receive  in  return  a  10  to  20  cent 
lunch. 

West  Technical  follows  a  different  plan  from  the 
other  schools.  Lunchroom  work  there  is  done  by 
students  under  direction  of  the  concessionnaire  and 
a  teacher  of  domestic  science.  Senior  students  in 
domestic  science  take  care  of  the  storeroom,  do  the 
cooking,  and  much  of  the  serving.  Boys  are  all  paid 
for  their  service  in  cash  or  in  lunches,  or  both.  Girls 
receive  lunch  but  no  payment  for  their  work.  This 
counts  as  laboratory  work,  and  is  not  charged  up 
against  the  lunchroom.  In  addition  to  the  students, 
two  women  are  employed  on  full  time  to  prepare 
vegetables,  clean  the  rooms,  and  do  odd  jobs  gen- 
erally. 

Location  and  Equipment  of  Lunchrooms 

Space  available  for  lunchrooms  and  kitchens  differs 
in  the  various  schools,  but  equipment  is  much  alike. 
Six  years  ago,  when  it  was  installed,  no  one  realized 
how  great  a  saving  of  time  and  labor  could  be  effected 
through  careful  selection  and  arrangement  of  equip- 

153 


ment.  Since  then  we  have  come  far  in  lunchroom 
management.  Today  each  piece  of  equipment  is  con- 
sidered with  a  view  to  its  purpose  in  an  organized 
plan,  and  it  is  placed  where  it  can  be  used  with  a 
minimum  expenditure  of  time  and  energy.  As  Cleve- 
land's lunchroom  equipment  is  renewed,  careful 
thought  should  be  given  to  effecting  such  economy. 

The  cost  of  installing  the  service,  keeping  rooms  in 
repair,  replacing  worn-out  equipment  and  buying 
new,  cannot  be  accurately  determined,  as  the  total 
sums  spent  are  lost  in  a  mass  of  records.  When  the 
rooms  were  equipped,  the  executive  department 
charged  expenditures  against  schools  only,  not 
against  departments  as  well,  and  the  same  plan  was 
followed  in  recording  maintenance  costs.  However, 
the  present  administration  has  greatly  improved  the 
system  of  accounting  and  in  the  future  such  infor- 
mation will  be  available. 

Lunchrooms  are  easy  of  access  from  both  school 
and  street.  Adjacent  halls  and  stairways  are  excep- 
tionally clean  and  well  lighted,  but  the  space  given 
is  small  and  during  the  lunch  period  there  is  much 
crowding  in  certain  of  the  academic  and  commercial 
schools  due  to  the  large  number  of  children  who  must 
be  served  in  a  few  minutes.  The  technical  schools 
have  more  space  given  over  to  lunchrooms,  as  well 
as  a  relay  plan  of  service. 

With  one  exception  all  lunchrooms  are  in  the  base- 
ment with  kitchens  and  storage  rooms  adjoining  or 
close  at  hand.  At  the  High  School  of  Commerce  the 
kitchen  is  between  two  lunchrooms;  at  the  technical 

154 


schools,  adjoining;  at  East  High  and  Glenville,  kit- 
chen and  lunchrooms  are  combined  by  pushing  the 
counter  further  out  into  the  room  and  doing  the  cook- 
ing behind  it.  At  South  High  a  large,  airy,  third- 
floor  room  is  used  for  lunch  purposes.  It  is  the  most 
attractive  of  all  the  rooms  but  so  many  flights  up 
and  so  far  away  from  the  street,  where  students  like 
to  promenade,  that  many  of  them  will  not  make  the 
trip. 

In  only  a  few  cases  is  storage  space  adequate.  In 
some  schools  it  is  so  placed  that  it  cannot  well  be 
used.  For  example,  at  West  High,  steam  pipes  run 
over-head  and  heat  the  room  so  much  that  food 
spoils. 

Condition  and  Care 
As  a  whole,  the  physical  condition  of  lunchrooms  is 
good  and  relation  between  concessionnaire  and  jani- 
tor unusually  cooperative  and  harmonious.  Rooms 
are  swept  at  least  once  a  day  and  are  mopped  up  or 
scrubbed  once  every  week  or  10  days  and  more  fre- 
quently if  the  weather  is  bad.  Tables  are  scrubbed 
every  day  and  wiped  off  before  recess  time.  Dishes 
are  very  heavy  and  plain  white.  They  are  most  un- 
attractive but  they  are  clean  and  whole. 

The  few  waste  cans  in  the  lunchrooms  catch  some, 
but  not  all,  stray  papers.  Students  have  so  little  time 
for  lunch  that  they  do  not  return  soiled  dishes  to 
the  counter  except  at  Commercial.  This  clutters  the 
room  and  makes  much  extra  work  for  concession- 
naires. 

155 


Lighting 
Lunchrooms  and  halls  are  better  lighted  than  are 
most  basement  rooms.  Windows  are  cleaned  fre- 
quently, outside  by  the  janitor,  inside  by  the  con- 
cessionnaire.  Electric  lights  are  placed  in  dark  cor- 
ners, and  ceilings  and  upper  walls  are  colored  white  or 
light  gray,  lower  walls  darker  gray  or  tan.  Kitchen 
lighting  is  not  so  good;  they  are  gloomy,  with  insuffi- 
cient lights  poorly  placed,  and  cold  gray  cement 
floors,  slippery  wet  in  front  of  sink  and  stove.  This 
semi-darkness  has  a  depressing  effect  on  the  force. 
These  dim  kitchens  are  not  only  unattractive,  but 
are  poorly  kept,  floors  especially.  Much  of  the  time 
the  women  stand  at  their  work.  Slight  changes,  more 
lights,  slat  mats,  working  stools,  and  provision  for 
working  clothes  would  make  the  women  more  com- 
fortable and  increase  their  working  efficiency. 

Ventilation 
It  is  difficult  to  ventilate  the  lunchrooms  and  there  is 
no  uniform  plan  for  doing  it.  Most  of  the  rooms  are 
not  connected  with  the  central  system,  and  are  over- 
crowded. In  wet  and  windy  weather,  rain  and  dust 
blow  in  through  open  windows,  covering  food  and 
children  alike.  Better  ventilation  might  be  had  by 
covering  all  food  and  thoroughly  airing  the  rooms 
before  and  between  recesses,  but  this  plan  will  not 
do  for  the  kitchens.  In  several,  notably  South  High, 
the  heat  is  almost  unendurable  and  special  mechan- 
ical ventilation  should  be  provided. 

156 


Working  Force 
Lunchroom  attendants  are  employed  and  discharged 
by  the  concessionnaire.  A  few  of  them  are  young, 
but  the  majority  are  middle-aged  women  who  sup- 
plement the  family  income  by  this  work.  What  train- 
ing they  have,  they  received  in  their  own  homes  or 
from  the  concessionnaire  who  directs  them  and  regu- 
lates their  hours  of  work  and  rate  of  payment.  There 
is  no  uniform  rate  per  hour.  The  women  work  three 
to  nine  hours  per  day  according  to  the  needs  of  the 
school;  the  highest  paid  worker  gets  $8  a  week  for 
an  eight-hour  day.  There  is  no  policy  with  regard  to 
payment  during  illness,  school  holidays,  or  summer 
vacation,  no  uniform  standards  for  employing  work- 
ers, and  no  system  of  promotion :  pensions  have  ap- 
parently never  been  thought  of.  In  view  of  the  cir- 
cumstances which  brought  the  system  into  being, 
such  lack  of  uniformity  is  natural,  but  the  work  has 
now  reached  a  stage  where  a  definite  policy  should  be 
formulated. 

The  school  lunch  department  is  a  department  of 
the  public  school  system;  but  both  are  business 
enterprises,  and  should  be  run,  like  any  others,  on 
sound  business  principles.  One  of  these  is  that 
industry  must  bear  the  costs  of  production.  These 
costs  include,  among  others,  provision  for  unem- 
ployment, illness,  and  old  age  pensions.  The  school 
has  formulated  such  a  policy  with  reference  to  its 
teachers.  The  lunch  department  is  still  in  process  of 
making,  but  its  workers  should  be  taken  into  ac- 
count and  an  effort  made  to  insure  for  them  an  equal 

157 


measure  of  social  consideration  with  others  of  the 
school's  employees. 

CONCESSIONNAIRES 

When  lunchrooms  were  established,  concessionnaires 
were  selling  lunch  at  the  schools  and  those  who  wished 
to  continue  under  the  new  arrangement  did  so.  With 
the  exception  of  a  colored  man  caterer  at  East  High 
School,  they  are  women  of  35  and  over.  They  have 
had  no  specific  training  for  their  work  and  invest 
their  time  only  when  they  undertake  it.  The  only 
supervision  to  which  they  are  subject  is  that  of  the 
supervisor  of  lunches  who  has  authority  to  inspect 
their  work  and  make  suggestions.  She  may  report 
any  violation  of  contract  and  can  hold  conferences 
with  the  concessionnaires  for  the  purpose  of  talking 
over  changes  and  improvements. 

TABLE    6.— PROFIT    MADE    BY    LUNCHROOM    CONCESSION- 
NAIRES IN  CLEVELAND  DURING  1914-16 


School 

Profit  during  year 

East  Technical 

$942 

Lincoln 

811 

West  Technical 

762 

East 

610 

Glenville 

606 

Commerce 

591 

West 

473 

South 

318 

Normal 

280 

East  Commerce 

124 

Concessionnaires  receive  no  fixed  salary.  At  the 
end  of  the  week  they  get  what  is  left  after  food  and 
labor  bills  have  been  paid.  This  amount  varies  from 

158 


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week  to  week  and  from  school  to  school,  not  only 
actually,  but  proportionally.  One  month  there  may 
be  a  very  good  profit;  the  next  a  large  deficit.  Con- 
cessionnaires  are  interested  in  and  earnest  about 
their  work  and  all  but  one  give  full  time.  Their  in- 
comes range  from  $124  to  $942  per  year,  as  shown  in 
Table  5  for  the  school  year  1914-15. 

Supervision 
The  supervisor  of  high  school  lunchrooms  is  ap- 
pointed by  the  director  of  schools  upon  recommenda- 
tion of  the  director  of  medical  inspection  to  whom  she 
is  immediately  responsible.  Each  week  she  receives 
from  concessionnaires  signed  reports  covering  num- 
ber of  portions  served,  receipts,  profits,  and  ex- 
penditures for  food  and  service. 

She  visits  schools  to  oversee  service,  to  confer  with 
principals  and  concessionnaires  regarding  details  of 
work,  and  to  arrange  a  uniform  food  and  price  scale. 
She  has  heavy  responsibility  but  lacks  the  authority 
to  make  her  judgments  active  for  she  has  only  the 
power  of  recommendation.  Any  breach  of  contract 
must  be  reported  to  the  director  of  medical  inspec- 
tion, who  transmits  the  report  and  his  recommenda- 
tion to  the  director  of  schools  before  any  action  is 
taken. 

High  School  Lunches  a  Big  Business 
Every  year  the  proportion,  as  well  as  the  number  of 
children  who  go  to  high  school,  is  increasing  and  every 

159 


year  more  of  them  depend  on  the  school  to  furnish 
their  noonday  meal.  The  potential  business  in  any 
of  the  larger  cities  is  big;  for  the  whole  country  it  is 
enormous. 

In  six  other  cities  where  service  is  organized  high 
school  students  spend  on  an  average  $5  to  $10  per 
school  year,  as  indicated  in  Table  6  which  follows: 


TABLE  6.— AVERAGE   RECEIPTS  PER  STUDENT  FOR   SEVEN 
CITIES  WITH  SUPERVISED   HIGH  SCHOOL  SERVICE,    1914-15 


City 


Boston* 
Columbus 
Pittsburght 
Cleveland 

New  York 

Philadelphia 

Rochester 


Average 

High 

daily  at- 

schools 

tendance 

at  school 

16 

14,235 

1 

755 

5 

3,500 

10 

6,763 

1 

800 

17 

14,000 

2 

2,900 

Total 
receipts 


$73,446.00 

4,078.00 

19,000.00 

36,777.00 

4,958.00 

117,000.00 

28.500.00 


Average 
receipts 
per  stu- 
dent per 
year 


$5.16 
5.40 
5.43 
5.44 
6.20 
8.36 
9.83 


*  Estimated  actual  per  capita  expenditure  of  students  who  buy  lunch 
Boston  $10,  Pittsburgh  $15. 

t  Estimated  1915-1916. 


A  study  of  last  year's  business  in  Cleveland  brings 
out  several  interesting  facts.  Table  7  shows  how  the 
average  per  capita  expenditure  for  ^11  schools  is  low 
as  compared  with  four  other  cities,  while  the  amount 
spent  by  students  who  do  buy  lunch  at  school  in- 
dicates that  they  have  fully  as  much  money  to  spend 
as  do  children  in  other  places.  In  this  city  the  aver- 
age student  who  gets  lunch  at  school  spends  10  or  11 
cents  for  it.  To  the  writer  it  seems  probable  that 
those  students  who  patronize  lunch  wagons  spend 

160 


about  as  much  for  their  lunch  as  do  other  students 
in  the  same  school  who  use  the  lunch  counter. 


TABLE  7.— AMOUNT  AND  COST  OF  BUSINESS  DONE  BY  CLEVE- 

LAND HIGH  SCHOOL  LUNCHROOMS  DURING  1914-15 

Average 

Total 

Total 

Average 
receipts 

Average 

Average 

attend- 

receipts 

portions 

per  stu- 

price 

service 

ance 

served 

dent  per 

per  por- 

cost per 

at  school 

year 

tion 

portion 

Commerce 

669 

$2,973 

22,436 

$4.44 

$.133 

$.041 

East  Com- 

merce 

135 

272 

2,991 

2.01 

.091 

.042 

East  High 

1,016 

3,999 

35,819 

3.94 

.112 

.032 

Glenville 

800 

3,826 

54,528 

4.78 

.070 

.020 

Lincoln 

465 

4,992 

37,645 

10.74 

.133 

.036 

South 

422 

1,692 

23,674 

4.01 

.071 

.026 

West  High 

516 

3,934 

52,255 

7.62 

.075 

.022 

East  Techni- 

cal 

1.710 

7,423 

54,515 

4.34 

.136 

.044 

West  Tech- 

nical 

800 

6,813 

61,459 

8.52 

.111 

.025 

Normal 

230 

853 

4,375 

3.71 

.195 

.068 

Total 

6,763 

$36,777 

349.697 

$5.44 

$.105 

$.029 

In  the  writer's  opinion  the  present  lunch  wagon  busi- 
ness if  handled  by  the  lunch  counter  would  bring  up 
the  annual  receipts  of  the  high  school  service  to 
almost  double  their  present  amount  or  to  about 
$70,000  a  year. 

A  comparison  of  average  daily  attendance  and  of 
total  yearly  receipts  shows  a  wide  variation  in  busi- 
ness done  in  schools  of  about  an  equal  daily  atten- 
dance. Moreover,  this  variation  is  not  between  aca- 
demic and  technical,  nor  academic  and  commercial 
schools,  but  between  school  and  school.  These  differ- 
ences may  arise  because  the  academic  schools  have  a 
n  161 


short  recess  with  overcrowded  lunchrooms  and  slow 
counter  service,  while  lunch  wagons  which  stand  in 
front  of  every  school,  are  easy  of  access,  and  offer  a 
change  from  school  food.  The  latter  is  more  attrac- 
tive than  that  which  the  wagons  provide,  but  its 
variety  is  limited,  and  its  preparation  uncertain. 


Place  of  Lunch  Service  in  the  School  System 

School  lunches  meet  a  natural  need  of  all  children. 
The  purpose  of  the  service  is  to  teach  children  to 
choose  wisely  the  food  they  buy.  The  conduct  of 
school  lunches  is  a  business,  an  art,  and  a  science. 
The  department  must  ^'deliver  the  goods '\'  it  must 
run  smoothly  and  please  its  patrons.  This  done,  it  is 
free  to  consider  its  working  standards  and  how  to 
better  them. 

The  superintendent  of  lunches  should  have  the 
same  rank  as  the  director  of  any  other  special  di- 
vision and  be  compensated  accordingly.  She  should 
be  subordinate  to  the  educational  department,  for 
her  work  bears  direct  relation  to  all  health  teaching 
in  the  schools  and  offers  an  opportunity  to  teach 
children  the  ethics  and  economics  of  spending,  and 
the  various  factors  affecting  the  price  of  school  meals 
and  restaurant  meals. 

Lunch  should  be  of  a  quality  to  satisfy  the  super- 
intendent and  in  quantity  to  tempt  children.  Re- 
ceipts should  cover  food,  service,  and  limited  main- 
tenance charges.  In  Cleveland,  last  year,  the  di- 
vision did  a  big  business.    In  round  numbers  high 

162 


school  and  normal  students  spent  $36,800  for  350,000 
portions. 

Except  for  supervision  and  equipment,  the  school 
lunch  should  be  self-supporting.  It  has  no  resources 
but  the  day's  receipts,  and  these  must  cover  all  ex- 
penses. If  only  for  this  reason,  funds  should  be  turned 
over  quickly,  bills  discounted,  '^futures''  ordered, 
and  goods  bought  on  a  favorable  market. 

The  superintendent,  therefore,  should  be  consti- 
tuted a  special  agent  in  the  purchasing  department, 
authorized  to  buy  necessary  articles,  such  as  equip- 
ment and  supplies,  and  to  pay  bills.  Her  accounts 
should  be  audited  at  regular  intervals  and  the  ac- 
countant's report  filed  with  other  school  accounts. 

This  type  of  organization  works  well  in  other 
cities.  In  Philadelphia  the  superintendent  of  lunches 
has  the  same  rank  as  the  director  of  any  other 
special  division — medical  inspection,  physical  train- 
ing, or  household  arts.  She  passes  upon  all  initial 
equipment,  renews  it,  buys  all  food,  and  pays  the 
bills.  She  is  subject  to  a  special  committee  of  the 
Board  of  Education  and  the  department  of  superin- 
tendence. Her  accounts  are  audited  once  a  month 
by  a  public  accountant  whose  report  is  filed  with 
other  school  reports. 

The  Pittsburgh  system  is  run  on  the  same  general 
plan,  while  in  Rochester  it  difTers  slightly.  There  the 
superintendent  passes  on  all  equipment,  orders  all 
food,  and  0.  K.'s,  but  does  not  pay,  bills.  The  cen- 
tral office  pays  them  as  soon  as  she  presents  them. 
Boston  has  a  well-organized  high  school  lunch  ser- 

163 


vice  managed  by  the  Woman's  Educational  and  In- 
dustrial Union.  In  New  York  City  the  School  Lunch 
Committee  of  the  Association  for  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the  Poor  is  responsible  for  service  in  44 
elementary  schools  and  one  high  school.  Eventually 
these  two  organizations  expect  their  respective  school 
boards  to  assume  responsibility  for  lunch  service  and 
organize  it  on  a  departmental  basis. 

To  realize  these  possibiUties,  the  division  must  be 
directed  by  a  superintendent  who  has  business  abil- 
ity, educational  insight,  and  social  vision.  She  must 
be  able  to  organize,  deputize,  and  supervise.  She 
should  have  full  authority  over  all  details  of  work  for 
which  she  is  responsible  and  should  be  consulted  on 
all  questions  concerning  location  and  arrangement 
of  rooms,  and  the  choice,  purchase,  and  placement  of 
all  equipment.  She  should  be  responsible,  at  least 
in  part,  for  purchasing  all  food,  and  wholly  respon- 
sible for  preparing  and  serving  it. 


School  Cooperation 

In  all  schools  principals  and  teachers  patronize 
lunchrooms,  where  a  table  is  set  aside  for  their  special 
use.  They  are  interested  in  the  lunches  and  ready  to 
cooperate  with  the  department  in  bettering  the 
service.  This  interest,  recognized,  coordinated,  and 
directed,  might  do  much  in  the  organization  and 
maintenance  of  a  uniform  standard  of  service 
throughout  the  system. 


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Greater  Use  of  Lunchrooms  Possible 

Reorganization,  at  no  additional  cost  to  the  school 
board,  would  greatly  increase  the  use  of  school  lunch- 
rooms. They  are  already  equipped,  have  regular 
customers,  and  do  a  big  business.  The  average  per 
capita  receipts  however  are  little  more  than  half  as 
great  as  for  high  school  students  in  Philadelphia  or 
Rochester,  and  if  the  high  average  expenditures 
for  Lincoln,  West  High,  and  West  Technical  were 
counted  out,  the  average  per  capita  expenditure  of 
Cleveland  high  school  students  would  be  $3.90  per 
year  or  the  lowest  of  the  seven  cities  listed  in  Table 
6.  Concessionnaires  are  earnest  and  hard-working, 
but  they  lack  the  peculiar  training,  skill,  and  exper- 
ience requisite  for  the  successful  conduct  of  so  com- 
plex a  service  as  school  lunches.  Concessionnaires 
have  no  professional  reputations  at  stake  and  no 
professional  standards;  they  did  not  train  for  the 
special  field  in  which  they  work,  but  are  paid  for  their 
labor.  Frequently  they  receive  for  it  as  much  as  do 
grade  teachers  who  specialized  in  household  arts  at 
normal  school  or  college. 

Boston,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  Pittsburgh,  and 
Rochester  have  put  trained  people  on  good  salaries  in 
charge  of  their  school  lunch  service  and  the  results 
have  justified  the  experiment.  A  centralized  system 
of  buying  and  accounting  saves  enough  to  cover  not 
only  food  and  labor  costs  at  each  school,  but  super- 
vision and  other  office  costs.  Of  these  cities  only 
Philadelphia  and  Boston  do  as  big  a  business  as 

165 


Cleveland,  but,  in  all,  this  type  of  organization  has 
been  successful  and  has  paid  its  own  way. 


Waste  of  Present  System 
The  present  system  is  not  economical  or  efficient. 
It  is  neither  uniform  nor  standardized  and  provides 
no  way  of  detecting  and  preventing  waste.  Buying 
is  done  by  untrained  people  who  follow  no  uniform 
system  and  who  order  in  retail  quantities.  Their 
purchases  lack  uniformity  and  are  made  from  so 
many  firms  that  they  can  get  advantageous  prices 
from  none. 

Storage  space  is  inadequate,  often  situated  where 
it  cannot  be  used,  for  example,  at  West  High,  where 
hot  steam  pipes  run  over-head,  or  at  Commercial, 
where  it  is  so  cold  that  goods  freeze.  In  several 
instances  ice  chests  are  inconveniently  located;  so 
big  that  concessionnaires  cannot  afford  to  use  them; 
or  placed  under  uncovered  steam  pipes  where  melting 
ice  runs  away  with  the  profit. 

Recipes  are  not  standardized  and  vary  from  school 
to  school  in  quahty,  quantity,  cost  of  ingredients 
used,  and  product  obtained.  Although  prices  are 
uniform,  portions  of  soup,  of  vegetables,  and  of  meat 
vary  so  much  in  size  and  food  value  that  lunch  at 
some  schools  is  much  more  costly  than  at  others. 
There  are  few  graded  serving  utensils  to  help  the 
server  gage  accurately  each  helping  so  that  serving 
such  dishes  as  soup,  mashed  potatoes,  or  baked  beans 
is  neither  quick  nor  uniform. 

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Equipment  is  not  especially  designed  for  the  par- 
ticular use  to  which  it  is  put,  nor  placed  to  save  time 
and  labor.  Lunchroom  helpers  are  not  ''routed'^  in 
their  work.  They  waste  time,  get  in  each  other's 
way,  repeat  work  or  overlook  it,  and  hurry  too  much. 
On  the  one  hand  low-grade  people  are  being  paid  high- 
grade  wages  to  do  low-grade  work,  and  on  the  other 
too  low  wages  are  paid  for  certain  kinds  of  highly 
specialized  work,  such  as  buying  or  recipe  making. 
Concessionnaires  are  generally  responsible  for  more 
kinds  of  work  than  they  can  do  well. 

Accounting  is  haphazard.  Schools  keep  their  own 
accounts,  and  every  week  send  the  central  office 
statements  covering  expenditures  for  food  and  labor, 
profit,  receipts,  and  estimated  portions  sold.  These 
records  are  too  poorly  checked  to  insure  accuracy  and 
too  meager  to  offer  any  real  basis  for  comparison  with 
results  obtained  at  other  schools. 


Economy  of  Consolidated  Lunch  Service 

A  uniform  method  of  record  keeping  and  cost  ac- 
counting would  discard  unessentials  and  throw  into 
high  light  economy  or  extravagance  of  food  and 
labor  in  individual  schools. 

A  central  office  can  make  a  comparative  study  of 
equipment  and  materials,  standardize  them,  and  make 
them  uniform  where  it  is  advisable  to  do  so.  It  can 
compare  variations  in  food  costs,  receipts,  and  profits 
by  schools,  or  months,  or  both.  It  can  find  and  avoid 
waste  of  food,  time,  and  labor.   It  can  carry  on  ex- 

167 


periments  in  different  schools  simultaneously,  and 
utilize  the  findings  of  one  for  the  benefit  of  all.  It 
fixes  responsibility  and  renders  a  maximum  service 
at  minimum  cost. 

Summary 

1.  This  report  is  based  on  at  least  one  visit  made  to 
every  school  during  the  lunch  period;  on  interviews 
with  concessionnaires  and  principals  at  all  schools; 
on  careful  study  of  minutes  of  Board  of  Education 
since  1909  and  of  lunch  records  on  file  in  the  division 
of  medical  inspection;  and  on  conferences  with  the 
supervisor  of  lunches,  the  director  of  medical  in- 
spection, the  school  architect,  the  supervisor  of 
requisitions  and  suppUes,  and  the  director  of  schools. 

2.  The  most  progressive  cities  have  consciously 
formulated  a  method  of  meeting  the  school  lunch 
problem.  This  group  includes  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Columbus,  Pittsburgh,  Toledo,  and  Cleveland. 

3.  In  the  United  States  high  school  lunchrooms 
are  of  two  sorts — those  run  by  concessionnaires  who 
try  to  make  them  yield  the  largest  possible  personal 
profit,  and  those  run  by  educational  employees  with 
the  aim  of  putting  extra  profit  back  into  increased 
food  and  better  service.  Cleveland's  lunchrooms  are 
of  the  first  sort. 

4.  Cleveland  has  an  exceptional  opportunity  to 
do  good  work  in  this  field.  Six  years  ago  the  school 
board  adopted  a  progressive  poUcy  regarding  high 
school  lunch  service.  It  supplied  all  necessary  equip- 
ment free  of  charge  and  three  years  ago  appointed 

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a  supervisor  paid  by  school  funds.  Lunch  is  served 
by  concessionnaires  who  apply  for  the  privilege;  they 
give  their  time  and  receive  in  return  all  profit  from 
the  lunch.  Last  year  this  service  was  provided  for 
83  per  cent  of  Cleveland's  high  school  students. 

5.  The  high  school  lunch  service  is  a  midday  ser- 
vice and  takes  the  place  of  home  meals.  It  has  a 
double  task :  to  serve  a  light  lunch  for  children  whose 
main  meal  comes  at  night,  and  a  substantial  dinner 
to  children  who  miss  the  family  dinner  by  being  at 
school.  Cleveland  performs  this  task  in  certain  of 
her  high  schools,  but  in  the  majority  the  menu  is 
not  well  enough  standardized  to  offer  daily  an  ac- 
ceptable noon  dinner.  The  remedy  for  this  condi- 
tion lies  in  centralization  and  close  supervision  of 
each  individual  school. 

6.  The  physical  condition  of  lunchrooms  is  good 
and  the  relations  between  concessionnaires  and 
custodians  are  cooperative  and  harmonious.  Prin- 
cipals and  teachers  are  interested  and  are  ready  to 
cooperate  in  any  plan  to  extend  and  improve  the 
service.  Lunchroom  patronage  varies  greatly  from 
school  to  school.  Where  children  are  thoroughly 
satisfied  with  the  service  lunch  wagons  do  a  compara- 
tively small  business. 

7.  The  school  lunch  division  should  reach  all  chil- 
dren; it  should  provide  wholesome  and  nutritious 
food  for  them  at  cost,  train  them  in  sane  habits  of 
eating,  and  teach  them  to  choose  wisely  what  food 
they  buy.  In  Cleveland  last  year  6,715  students 
spent  $36,777  at  school,  or  $5.44  apiece.   In  Phila- 

169 


delphia  the  same  number  spent  $56,070,  or  $8.35 
apiece.  Cleveland  can  equal  this  record  and  increase 
the  usefulness  of  her  plant  by  consolidating  her  sys- 
tem, and  including  in  it  service  in  the  elementary 
schools. 

8.  Administration  of  a  consolidated  system  re- 
quires the  service  of  a  highly  trained  and  experienced 
dietitian,  who  will  be  able  to  centralize  all  buying  and 
accounting,  organize  and  standardize  equipment, 
service,  labor,  wages,  and  food,  and  combine  old 
methods  and  originate  new  ones  for  the  conduct  of 
the  service. 

9.  Increased  expenditure  involved  in  reorganizing 
high  school  lunches  will  be  met  by  increased  profits 
from  lunchrooms  due  to  bigger  business  and  better 
management. 

10.  Cleveland's  opportunity  to  do  significant  and 
constructive  work  through  her  school  lunchrooms  is 
exceptional.  She  has  all  the  necessary  equipment,  but 
at  present  lacks  the  proper  organization  and  neces- 
sary enthusiasm.  One  competent  person  with  author- 
ity equal  to  the  responsibility  of  the  position  and  a 
vital  interest  in  the  work  could  make  Cleveland  a 
leader  in  this  field. 


170 


CLEVELAND  EDUCATION  SURVEY  REPORTS 

These  reports  can  be  secured  from  the  Survey  Committee  of 
the  Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  They  will  be 
sent  postpaid  for  25  cents  per  volume  with  the  exception 
of  "Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools"  by  Judd, 
"The  Cleveland  School  Survey"  by  Ayres,  and  "Wage  Earn- 
ing and  Education"  by  Lutz.  These  three  volumes  will  be 
sent  for  50  cents  each.  All  of  these  reports  may  be  secured 
at  the  same  rates  from  the  Division  of  Education  of  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  New  York  City. 

Child  Accounting  in  the  PubUc  Schools. — Ayres. 

Educational  Extension — Perry. 

Education  through  Recreation — Johnson. 

Financing  the  Public  Schools — Clark. 

Health  Work  in  the  Public  Schools — Ayres. 

Household  Arts  and  School  Lunches — Boughton. 

Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools — ^Judd. 

Overcrowded  Schools  and  the  Platoon  Plan — Hart- 
well. 

School  Buildings  and  Equipment — Ayres. 

Schools  and  Classes  for  Exceptional  Children — Mit- 
chell. 

School  Organization  and  Administration — ^Ayres. 

The  Public  Library  and  the  Public  Schools — Ayres 
and  McKinnie. 

The  School  and  the  Immigrant — Miller. 

The  Teaching  Staff — ^Jessup. 

What  the  Schools  Teach  and  Might  Teach — Bobbitt. 

The  Cleveland  School  Survey  (Summary) — Ayres. 


Boys  and  Girls  in  Commercial  Work — Stevens. 

Department  Store  Occupations — O'Leary. 

Dressmaking  and  Millinery — Bryner. 

Railroad  and  Street  Transportation — Fleming. 

The  Building  Trades — Shaw. 

The  Garment  Trades — Bryner. 

The  Metal  Trades— Lutz. 

The  Printing  Trades — Shaw. 

Wage  Earning  and  Education  (Summary) — Lutz, 


Date 

Due 

'..-dS'iy 

MAR  oC 

1  1992 

1 

I 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031   01714164  9 


l!Mi:^i59 


DATE  DUE 

, 

■I 


'ill;  I 


i 


